editor posted on August 09, 2010 05:59
Tenants are at
risk of falling prey to identity fraudsters by failing to change their details
when they move house. Of the UK’s 16m tenants, a third fail to leave a
forwarding address and new tenants often find themselves receiving mail for
previous occupiers. With increases in identity thefts, tenants are advised to
be more vigilant.
The UK’s fraud
prevention service CIFAS reported an increase of 32 per cent in the number of
identity thefts committed during the recession. One of the most common types of
fraud is criminals taking over the running of a victim’s bank account.
Although this trend can be a nuisance for people who receive piles of post
meant for previous tenants, more worryingly, documents left behind can be used
to commit identity fraud.
When moving,
tenants are advised to redirect post for at least a month and when moving out
at the end of a tenancy, to resist the urge to throw out personal documents
with the rubbish as thieves can use this information to steal their identity.
Instead, all documents that are no longer needed should be shredded.
Almost a
quarter of people in the UK fail to redirect their post and more than one in
ten leave personal documents behind when they move house. Seventy per cent of
new residents receive post addressed to previous occupants.