Report pinpoints identity fraud streets

Report pinpoints identity fraud streets

The street in central London which is home to the Department of Trade and Industry has been named Britain's number one identity fraud hotspot, while St Albans, Slough and Woking also feature in the UK top 10 outside of London.

The ID fraud league table was issued by data specialist Experian, which also revealed that more than nine in 10 identity thefts are not reported to the police.

Identity theft has been called Britain's fastest-growing crime, and Experian said it saw a "dramatic increase" in criminal activity last year. More than 2,100 people contacted the company's "victims of fraud" service in the second half of 2006 - a 69% increase on the same period in 2005.

London remains the identity fraud capital of the UK, with all of the top 25 most-at-risk areas located within the M25. The area around Victoria Street in Westminster - where the DTI has its offices and a number of major name stores can also be found - has overtaken Kensington as the highest-risk area in the UK, with residents there being almost three-and-a-half times more likely to fall victim than the national average.

Advertisement starts

---

---

Advertisement ends

Other London ID fraud hotspots include King's Road in Chelsea, Queensway and King Street in Hammersmith.

"Fraud experts within Experian believe the high levels of identity fraud within areas such as Victoria Street, Kensington and Chelsea are down to the high numbers of identity fraudsters operating in these areas, and an increasing likelihood for residents of those areas to use high-class restaurants, clubs and other venues that the fraudsters are likely to target," states the report. Residents of these areas are much more likely to rent out, or live in, rented property, to share mailboxes and use the internet, it adds.

Outside London, the top 25 is dominated by towns and cities in the south-east. In first place is St Albans, whose residents are more than twice as likely to fall victim to the crime than the average person. The other locations on the list are: Slough, Woking, Redhill, Windsor, Guildford, Brentwood, Camberley, Reading, Hatfield, Bishops Stortford, Horsham, Bournemouth, Haywards Heath, Tunbridge Wells, Farnborough, Welwyn Garden City, Tonbridge, Sutton Coldfield, Winchester, Farnham, Worthing, Chichester and Hemel Hempstead.

Experian said residents of Blackpool, Southport, Newport on the Isle of Wight and Scarborough should also be "extra vigilant". That is because these towns have all seen big increases in their "risk scores".

The lifestyles of the top salaried professionals – directors and business owners who often live in the most exclusive areas – continues to make them prime targets for identity fraudsters. They are almost four times more likely to fall victim than the average UK resident.

"Those renting – either privately or from local authorities – are also at high risk. Young singles and homesharers who live in flats rented from local councils or housing associations are more than twice as likely to fall victim, as are the young, single, wealthy people who rent high-value flats in fashionable areas," adds the report.

Check your credit file

Guardian Unlimited © Guardian News and Media Limited 2006