UK Identity Theft Study

An identity theft study published in the UK in early 2007 reveals that the costs of these crimes are rocketing.

The study was commissioned by an anti ID theft company called Garlick. Garlick was established by the founders of the internet bank, Egg. The study was carried out by a research consultancy called 1871 Ltd.

This identity theft study found that the most 'at risk' group of people is, rather amazinly, lawyers. It seems that lawyers often have substantial amounts of information about them published online, are easy to find and, of course, are above average earners.

It also seems that ID fraud is very, very profitable. The most successful fraudsters can net up to GBP 85,000 per victim which is a truly stunning amount.

The study also found that the perception of identity theft by the general public is widely off mark when compared to reality. The public it seems, think of these crimes simply as a bank account being emptied. Whereas, as you may have seen from other pages on this site, the professional fraudster plays a longer game and is looking to open a bank account rather than empty one. He or she is also planning to take out a loan and a credit card rather than get out quickly for a few hundred pounds.

We have all been warned...

Go back to UK identity theft statistics

Go back to identity theft statistics

The identity theft statistics for the UK have been questioned. To read more, cick here: UK Identity Theft Statistics

Read about Experian's 2007 analysis of UK Identity theft trends

Is there a link between Identity theft and the English language ?

Read about the UK fraud figures as published by The Times newspaper.

Please click here to return to the general page about Identity theft statistics