The focus of this year’s National Identity Fraud Prevention Week is Corporate Identity Fraud. There is good reason for this as statistics show that 79% of UK businesses make no effort to destroy the sensitive material they dispose of and a whopping 54% have been a victim of fraud in the past 12 months. Considering many businesses hold data on their customers as well as their own records; this is a very real problem.

Preventing ID fraud is not a military operation; in fact there are some very basic tips that if you can start to incorporate into your day-to-day business, you will help reduce the chances of your (or your customers) identity being stolen.

• Try not to leave credit card details lying around – similarly when applying for a new card, if it doesn’t arrive in a reasonable amount of time contact your bank straight away
• Don’t throw sensitive information in the bin – shred it
• Make sure confidential documents are not easily visible
• Don’t leave documents lying around the printer
• Take all papers with you when you leave a meeting room
• If possible, don’t wait for 3^rd party document shredding – try and shred there and then
• Be aware of billing cycles – if one of your bills is late, it may have been stolen by a fraudster
• Regularly monitor your credit report to check that no accounts have been set up that are not in your company name

This is just a taster; there are loads more tips on www.stop-idfraud.co.uk for protecting both yourself and your business.