Radio 4

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Gemma Combellack says that you have a mortgage were denied to criminals in your identity

stolen"It seemed to just Go On and on, it is just really upsetting. "Gemma Combellack, 30, is talk about them, to claim six-month struggle, their identity, after it was stolen by criminals in the Last Year .

she discovered, she would be a victim of identity theft, if you have a mortgage has been denied for a payday loan in your name that you knew nothing.

A Bank account had also been opened by the fraudster using your identity.

"I have Level tears in the eyes at my Desk at work in terms of the impact it had on me and my stress.

"at The Time it made me so angry that we have to go through all this trauma and stress and No One could answer me.

"It's just that it was so outside of our control, and that is The Most frustrating thing. "

Gemma is not alone. In the Last Year ID theft More Than 223,000 happened to time, up to 18% on the year, The Counter fraud organisation The National Fraud database is running and is working with police and financial institutions to try to combat fraud.

'Lucrative'

says His boss, Mike Haley, there are A Number of factors fueling The Rise .

"Criminals use sophisticated methods, more and more of us to do more things online, and we are all using cash less, this is something that fraudsters are able to exploit.

"criminal fraud targeting ID-as a lucrative business model, and you will always be sophisticated in its use of social engineering [on The Phone , SMS, or Social Media ], which includes convincing the people to, personal information," Mr Haley said.

Combined with large-scale data abuse and data theft by companies and organizations, "and you have the ingredients [of ID theft]," he added.

Very often criminals who are not these attacks on the people in the UK once here. "All of this can be done at a distance," He Said . "Now you can sit behind a computer somewhere in The World , and the crimes on a large scale. "

Also, there is very little risk of being caught, such as "criminals are able to use the anonymity of The Internet ," He Said .

The Rise in ID theft

2015: 169,5922016: 172,9182017: 174,5232018: 189,1082019: 223,163

Cifas

For Gemma , The Personal cost, the delivery stolen your identity in the thousands of pounds. "In terms of financial impact, we were not able to get a mortgage to get, and therefore had to continue to pay rent on our property for six months.

"We would also instructed a lawyer and the apartment had so valued, in total, the costs are going to look at the £10,000 mark.

"It feels just like I don't come further Nine Months . It feels like we just really financially hit by something completely out of our hands, and it just seems Unfair . "

Gemma says that it took months of stress and anxiety before she was able to reclaim their identity

Gemma is also concerned about their financial future.

"can that happen If it can happen once, it again," She Said . "It made me nervous, really, really, it's happening again, because there are no symptoms, you don't know, it happened to you. "

Mike Haley says that he expects that The Number of ID thefts will be Even Higher this year and next year, as criminals take advantage of people to see the weak points in the Corona-Virus-pandemic.

He Said : "During This Time , criminals have a holiday, you have This Time to harvest information.

"you have. upping their activities to the appreciation of The Crisis , we have all in our vigilance, because, understandably, we are all worried about other things

The Council of experts is to always avoid clicking on links or reply to text messages and phone calls that come out of The Blue .

It is also an attempt, the awareness of fraud and advice for people on how you can try to help yourself to avoid becoming a victim.

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Source of news: bbc.com