• FACT 2: It is estimated that 2.1 billion ID checks are made per annum in the UK. Source: The UK Cabinet Office

• FACT 3: 50% of ID checks are carried out by the financial services sector. The top 6 Banks account for 15-20% of the 600 million annual checks. Source: Credit Today.

• FACT 4: Which? estimates that one in four British adults have been a victim of identity fraud or know someone that has had their ID stolen. An identity theft takes place every four minutes.

• FACT 5: Identity fraud in the UK is estimated to cost the economy around £1.3 billion per year and the market for services to prevent and detect such fraud is estimated to be worth hundreds of millions of pounds. Source: Identity Fraud Study, Cabinet Office..

• FACT 6: It is estimated that it takes over 400 hours for someone who has become a victim of identity fraud or theft to clear their name. Source: CIFAS

• FACT 7: The cost to a busy person of proving their innocence and cleaning up their credit files is estimated to be between £5,000 & £8,000. Source: The Times, May 2005

• FACT 8: Identity fraud is the fastest growing crime in America; 9.9 million victims were reported in 2003. Source: US Federal Trade Commission.

• FACT 9: A survey of 5,000 US adults by Gartner found that unauthorised access to credit reports and other sensitive data is the biggest concern regarding identity theft and fraud.

• FACT 10: 101,000 cases of identity fraud were reported in the UK in 2003 Source: UK Government.

• FACT 11: Estimated cost of government's proposed ID card - £5.5bn. Source: UK Government.

• FACT 12: 31% of Londoners have been victims of ID fraud. Source: London Evening Standard, May 2005.

• FACT 13: There are marked variations in levels of compliance across different market sectors. Compliance is highest amongst financial services companies, with 62 per cent of stockbrokers and 55 per cent of Independent Financial Advisers (IFAs) already compliant, compared to only 19 per cent of estate agents and 23 per cent of luxury goods companies. Source: GB Group.

• FACT 14: Fewer people in the UK are making online transactions because they are worried about identity theft, according to a survey carried out by Infosurv. 13 per cent of e-banking customers and 12 per cent of ecommerce users said they had stopped trading online because of security concerns.

• FACT 15: Gartner’s latest study of 5,000 US adults shows that confidence in online commerce and banking is waning, with nearly a third of respondents ‘extremely concerned’ that they will suffer identity theft. The survey found that 73% of people regularly log on to online bank accounts, and 63% pay bills online. However, nearly 30% of these online bankers said that security fears have influenced their behaviour. More than three-quarters of this group now log on less frequently, and nearly 14% have stopped paying bills online.

• FACT 16 : 70% of Internet users have installed additional security software, and 41% are purchasing less online as a direct result of fears about the security of their identity online.

• FACT 17: Approximately 1400 fraudulent applications for driving licences are detected every year by the vehicle licensing authority. Source: DVLA

• FACT 18 : In 2001 more than 3000 driving tests were stopped due to doubts over the identity of the person sitting the test.

• FACT 19 : 1500 fraudulent applications for passports were identified by the UK Passport Service in 2004. Source: UKPS

• FACT 20: One large (UK) credit card company indicated that fraudulent use of credit cards cost it as much as £10bn per year, although ….. for every £1 that is stolen, it costs another £50 to sort out the mess in terms of recompensing customers and internal administration costs. Source: www.computeractive.co.uk

• FACT 21 : Only 6% of businesses use authentication systems designed to fight ID fraud. One in five of Britain's biggest firms admit to suffering security breaches due to identity theft. 15 per cent of these attacks cost about £100,000 and disrupt businesses for more than a month. Source: DTI

• FACT 22: 50% of passport applications scrutinised in a one off exercise in 2004 were found to involve ID fraud. Source: The Hansard report

• FACT 23: 11,700 passport applications every year are believed to be fraudulent in some way – 50% due to ID theft. Source: The Hansard report

• FACT 24: The number of passports lost or stolen each year has doubled from 2000 to just under 250,00 each year. Source: The Hansard report

• FACT 25: Approximately 120,000 people in the UK were victims of identity fraud in 2004. Source: Datamonitor

• FACT 26: There was a 19 per cent increase in cases of identity fraud in 2004 and an estimated 70,000 deceased impersonation frauds in 2004. Source: Datamonitor

• FACT 27 : Credit card identity fraud in the UK alone is worth £36.9 million. Source: Datamonitor

• FACT 28: At least 1 in 10 movers still leave behind personal documents making them susceptible to ID theft. Source: Experian

• FACT 29 : 43% of ID theft occurs from mail or documents stolen from a previous address. Source: Experian

• FACT 30: Over 40% of new residents reports receiving 1 letter a month for previous tenants. Source: Experian

• FACT 31: 15% of new residents have received bank or credit card statements for
  previous tenants. Source: Experian

• FACT 32: Equifax estimates that the direct and indirect costs of corporate ID fraud could be as high as £3 billion per annum. Source: Equifax

• FACT 33: CNP fraud cost banks and retailers £150.4 million. 78% of this was incurred through Internet purchases.

• FACT 34: Roughly 10% of all card payments were made online. Source: APACS

• FACT 35: 21 million people in the UK made online purchases and the number is rising. Source: APACS

• FACT 36: Biggest rise in CNP fraud occurred in the betting industry (including lottery); now placed second just behind mail order with a value of £11.7 billion. Source: APACS

• FACT 37 : In May 2004 the DMA reported: 20% of UK population receives mail for previous
  occupants and 10 million people have received mail for deceased persons.

• FACT 38: 2006 CIFAS study into victims’ experience of ID theft revealed that: 56% of victims had their IDs stolen in order to take out a new store card, credit card (43%) or mobile phone account (35%). Fraudsters tend to use a number of pieces of documentation including credit or bank cards, driving licences, bank statements, utility bills and passports. It was rare for just one piece of documentation to be used, however when this was the case it tends to be a driving licence.

• FACT 39: UK card fraud has fallen by 13 per cent to £439.4m in the 12 months since the introduction of chip and PIN technology, according to the latest figures from payments industry body APACS. But while chip and PIN has helped reduce card fraud on the high street, the figures show criminals have turned their attention to the internet, phone and mail order transactions with a 21 per cent rise in card-not-present fraud to £183.2m in 2005. Source: APACS

• FACT 40: Half a billion pounds stolen from bank and credit card accounts each year is not being reported to the police by financial institutions, a Scotland on Sunday investigation has found…. The figure for losses due to credit card and ID theft fraud is in the region of £1bn. That is about twice the amount which is typically reported, so about half is never flagged up to police. Source: Scotland on Sunday, February 9, 2006

• FACT 41: Reported fraud in the UK has reached a 10-year high, with cases involving a total of almost £1bn reaching the courts, according to accountancy giant KPMG's annual Fraud Barometer. According to KPMG 222 cases involving a total of £942m reached court in 2005, up from 172 cases worth £329m in 2004. The government was the biggest victim of fraud, but financial firms also lost 10 times more to fraud than in 2004. The two biggest classes of perpetrator were managers and organised crime, which together accounted for almost 90% of the cases

• FACT 42: The majority of consumers (77%) would stop using Web banking services altogether if they were forced to foot the bill for online fraud, according to research commissioned by The Financial Services Authority (FSA) which is calling on banks to do more to educate customers about Internet security in order to stem losses. Finextra, January 30, 200

• FACT 43: Figures from APACS show that bank losses from Internet fraud more than trebled to £14.5m last year. But a survey of 1500 Internet users conducted for the FSA's Financial Risk Outlook report found that if banks decided to shift liability of the losses towards the consumer, the vast majority would stop using the services.

• FACT 44: The FSA says nearly all users (95%) surveyed believe that at least some security responsibility should lie with the bank, while just under half (45%) say banks should take sole responsibility for fraud.