Britain's bins are leaving their owners exposed to fraudsters who steal identities by rifling through rubbish and taking advantage of a wealth of documents that contain personal information, from signatures to credit card numbers.
Investigators, acting on behalf of the National Fraud Prevention Week, raided 120 bins in four streets in the London borough of Wandsworth.
In this sample the researchers found that almost three-quarters of the bins inspected contained documents with the occupant’s signature, nearly half contained documents with bank account numbers and sort codes, while over a quarter even provided potential fraudsters with credit or debit card numbers.
Whilst the sample is too small to be truly representative of the UK at large, it does reflect a general carelessness with personal information which is making life all too easy for identity thieves.
The BBC quoted figures from Cifas, the UK fraud prevention agency, which suggest that the UK is currently seeing an explosion in the practice of identity theft. According to the Cifas figures, identity theft has risen exponentially from 20,000 cases in 1999 to 137,000 in 2005.
Identity thieves can rack up thousands of pounds worth of debt under the names of their victims. As This is Money suggests, this can adversely effect credit ratings making it difficult for victims to get credit cards and mortgages in the future.
The National Fraud Prevention Week website contains tips on preventing identity fraud such as shredding documents before throwing them away, regularly checking credit card reports, and making sure that online security software is kept up to date.