UFO Info Week-End

I do think that organised crime is heavily involved and there’s more of it in the UK than

“I do think that organised crime is heavily involved, and there’s more of it in the UK than in the rest of Europe,” he said. “Part of the problem is that we don’t have a national fraud squad, and trying to get 40 local constabularies to deal with gangs who are working nationally, well…”The biggest worry is that Britain will follow the trend in the US, where identity theft now affects 750,000 people annually, and it is still rising. “We figure we’re about 18 months behind them,” Mr Hurst said. “So there’s still some way to go.”Henri Cash, a company director who was a victim of ID theft two years ago, still has to deal with some lingering effects of the fraud.

He believes the big credit referencing agencies fail to make proper checks. “Companies like Experian and Equifax get a huge amount of data all the time, which they never validate, about people moving house and so on. They don’t check it, because they don’t lose money if it’s wrong – the banks who are their customers do. But I think they have a duty of care to make sure that the data they store has some degree of accuracy.”At Experian, Jill Roberts, the director of consumer relations, disagrees, both in general and in particular, with Mr Cash’s argument. “We do all we can to make sure our data is accurate, but it’s millions of pieces of information that we don’t gather ourselves. The electoral roll is provided to us by local councils, and if somebody has managed to fake their way on to that, then they’ve committed a crime.”She insists that in Mr Cash’s case Experian took an active role in tracking down all the fraudulent transactions involved.

“We notified him of some of them which he wasn’t aware of,” she said. The fact that Mr Cash is still aggrieved, more than a year after the fraud was spotted, and some months after his demon was jailed, illustrates Ms Roberts’ other point. “Identity theft happens to only a tiny percentage of people, but that’s not the point. It’s a horrid crime, because it makes people feel vulnerable, and it’s frightening.”ID Security: How to keep your credit details away from the conmen¿ Don’t simply throw away items such as credit-card slips in shops or petrol stations. Tear them up thoroughly.¿ Buy a shredder for home use and destroy any documents or bills that you throw away. Criminals have been known to scour dumpster for bills, credit-card statements and bank statements.¿ If you are mugged or burgled, alert your credit-card providers, and also alert CIFAS, by writing to CIFAS, PO Box 3058, Clydebank, G81 2WN. For £11.75, you can apply a password to your credit, so that any new credit cards, store cards you receive must be approved with that password before use.¿ Get a copy of your credit reference files from Experian and Equifax It only costs £2 Both have websites (experian.co.uk and equifax.co.uk) Equifax lets you apply for your file online.

Check them for incorrect information, and tell the agencies about wrong or suspicious data.. MI5, Military Intelligence and Special Branch all withheld information from investigations into the murder of the Belfast solicitor Pat Finucane, according to a BBC Panorama programme broadcast last night. The Finucane family and other campaigners are demanding a full public inquiry into the case. A Canadian judge, who has been given the prerogative of establishing such an inquiry, will examine the files but is not expected to give an opinion for well over a year.Panorama said that when Sir John Stevens first investigated the case 12 years ago, MI5 officers signed statements saying they knew virtually nothing about collusion between security elements and loyalist terrorists. In fact, it said, MI5 had direct access to all of the army’s secret files.