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August 09 2007

Consumers distrust paper identity checks

Some 76% of consumers are unlikely to use a company in the future if it had received negative publicity regarding a sensitive breach of customer information, according to a survey by Experian. The same survey says that businesses are partly to blame for the growth of identity fraud in the UK because they continue to rely on fraud-friendly paper documents to authenticate a person's identity.

Even though 71% of companies surveyed named identity fraud as a significant challenge to their business, half of companies interviewed still rely heavily on paper when it comes to authentication - while this has more of an impact on sectors such as financial services, a third of retailers interviewed use paper documentation to verify identity.

The Experian survey found:

  • 70% believe that it is easy to forge utility bills and bank statements and nearly a half think the same about driving licences
  • 68% of consumers also find it inconvenient having to provide paper based documents
  • Nearly a third of 18 to 24 year olds have either delayed or given up on applying for a new account due to difficulty in providing the necessary paper-based document as proof of identification


    • Identity fraud is one of the fastest growing forms of fraud around the world and costs the UK economy £1.7billion a year.

    Emma Herrod

    This article is tagged as: Experian identity fraud

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