An ordinary bank customer has persuaded one of the UK’s largest credit rating agencies to adopt a totally free technique that could dramatically cut ID theft.

From this week, UK agency Equifax has agreed to make it easier for consumers to amend their credit records with a simple thumbprint ID, with the requirement that anyone applying for credit under that customer’s name must supply a corresponding print on any application.

According to Jamie Jamieson, who thought up and has campaigned for the idea the idea for some years, criminals will hate this – the last thing a criminal wants to do is hand over incriminating evidence in the form of a personal thumb or fingerprint.

In the event of fraud using a person’s identity, the bogus fingerprint could be added to the Police National Computer (PNC) database of fingerprint records, and either identify the culprit from those already in the system, or create a trail of evidence should they be arrested at a future date. Most likely, the criminal would simply move on to another identity and not bother at all. Read more.

Your Online Security Authority
Bill Wardell

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OSA Technorati Tags: Bank Customer, consumers, Credit Rating Agencies, Criminals, Culprit, Equifax, Fingerprint Records, Fraud, ID theft, Incriminating Evidence, Jamieson, National Computer, Pnc, Police National, Thumb

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