The National Consumer Council (NCC) is recommending that identity theft be tackled in the UK by establishing a "one stop shop" support center modeled on a US scheme to help victims report problems and clear their name.
The center would be web or telephone-based and funded by industry, although independently governed. The NCC added that setting up and running a center that helped prevent identity theft would cost a fraction of the billions lost by industry through the fraud.
An Identity Theft Assistance Center in the US which assigns a case worker for victims and shares information with law enforcement authorities has helped some 3,000 victims of fraud since establishment in 2004.
It is estimated that more than 100,000 people are affected by identity theft in the UK each year, at a cost to the economy of GBP1.7 billion, according to figures from the Home Office.
The NCC also recommended industry good practice guidelines to help victims of fraud to clear their name and sort out their credit record, plus notification to consumers by business when there has been unauthorized access to their personal data.