Starting today (12 October, 2009) is National Identity Fraud Prevention Week and the seven-day awareness period has kicked off with research revealing ‘shocking’ statistics for businesses and individuals.

The National Identity Fraud Prevention Week is an annual awareness drive and this year the emphasis is on warning Britain’s businesses of the risk identity fraud poses to them, their employees, their customers and their suppliers.

Research shows that one third of small and medium-sized businesses have been impacted by fraud. Furthermore, that British consumers are also experiencing a crisis in confidence, with only 3% feeling completely confident the organisations they deal with handle their personal data responsibly.

In response, the partners in the National Identity Fraud Prevention Week initiative have published a 28-page, free guide for businesses, including the launch of a dedicated online resource centre, outlining the risks and offering tips on how to keep corporate data safe, and advice on how to overcome a breach should one occur.

The main research findings reveal that only 64% of businesses have put in place a clear policy on how to handle documents with sensitive information. And nearly one-third (32%) of employees admit to always throwing sensitive documents directly into the bin. This is ironic, given that 64% of employees believe that documents discarded into bins are a bigger risk to customer details than computer systems, or document theft.

And generally, 71% of UK employees think their companies should do more to ensure confidential documents are handled in a responsible manner which does not open up people to fraud. The UK is not alone in this, with employees throughout Europe thinking the same (66% of Germans, 70% of Belgians, 61% of Dutch and 85% of the Irish).

Figures from the Government paint a pretty poor picture, with identity fraud costing the UK economy over £1.2 billion annually, sometimes with terrible consequences on those businesses which are effected.

But of course it’s not only businesses which are affected. Figures from UK’s Fraud Prevention Service, CIFAS, reveal that so far in 2009, some 60,000 UK residents have already fallen victim to ID fraud this year. And this represents a 36% increase over the same period last year.

Given this situation, it’s still hard to believe say the people behind National Identity Fraud Prevention Week, that 44% of Britons do not shred documents containing sensitive information before placing them in the bin. Furthermore, only 54% of them routinely check their financial statements, just 45% follow-up missing post and 69% report lost, or stolen documents.

Supporters of this year’s campaign are the Association of Chief Police Officers, Metropolitan Police, Fellowes, the National Fraud Authority, the Federation of Small Businesses, Equifax, CIFAS – The UK’s Fraud Prevention Service, Callcredit, Experian, the Home Office’s Identity and Passport Service, the British Chambers of Commerce, the British Retail Consortium and the Royal Mail.

Guest Article by Neil Camp