As the financial services and technology sectors have improved their accounts and systems protection in recent years, the lawbreakers have hit back by increasingly switching their attention to conning institutions through stealing corporate and private identities and making up false credentials.
According to Royal & SunAlliance’s study, corporate identity fraud alone cost British businesses GBP50 million in 2005, but more worryingly it is expected to increase by more than tenfold over the next 15 years.
Corporate identity fraud usually involves lawbreakers illegally trading under the relative protection of a legitimate company’s reputation and accessing credit lines using the healthy credit ratings of established business.
Royal & SunAlliance says that larger businesses and those located in London are most at risk.
