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Free ID fraud checks.
Millions of child benefit recipients whose details were on the two lost discs are to be offered regular free ID fraud checks by the Government.
Ministers will announce this week that they have signed a deal with Experian, the country's biggest credit reference agency, to offer seven million people free access to "real time" information on their credit files.
Those whose details were on the lost discs will be able to receive emails or text messages whenever anyone applies for a loan or credit card in their name, and check online which credit facilities they are recorded as having taken out.
The service usually cost between £50 and £60 a year and enables those concerned about ID fraud to veto any illegitimate attempts to secure credit in their names.
The cost to the Government will depend on how many potential victims sign up, but at least £10 million is understood to have been set aside for the scheme.
Source Telegraph 10 Dec 2007
Debtwizard comment
I would imagine the banks and credit card providers will be breathing a sign of relief as this should help reduce the enormous potential costs they would have had to meet should ID fraud take off due to the two lost discs. However £10 million is not enough because this only allows for 200,000 individuals to take up the option at £50 per year membership, furthermore, this facility needs to be available for many years to come because many fraudsters will wait until the heightened security drops and hope to catch people off their guard.
Remember the data becomes of use from the age of 18 years for a potential fraudster up until you die, in some instances even the deceased have been cloned, so for that reason this is serious and if the Governemnt wish to make this available to all the 7 million individuals affected then this will cost somewhere around the £350 million mark per year and every year thereon.
Remember you need to check your credit file regulary, once a year is not enough as when you do the search it will only be valid at the time of the search, if you wait another year before you check your file agin then you are giving the fraudster a year's head start on you.
That said there is no evidence to suggest the data has fallen into the wrong hands. If the two discs are ever found then there is also no evidence, either way, to confirm whether the data has or has not been copied before being left to surface somewhere.
Everyone must treat this as a massive wake up call, click here for my tips on how to protect oneself from ID fraud.
Although I already subscribe to a credit reference agency for exactly the same as above I will however find out exactly what the deal will be and will post an email to all members detailing how and when to apply to the scheme.