Identity crisis

IT is an inevitable consequence of the recession that identity fraud has become a growth industry, particularly in the North. This is not just about families breaking the law because of the desperate state of their personal finances, the latest spike in figures is also indicative of the extent to which criminal gangs are utilising their IT knowledge to access personal information from computer databases.

What is disturbing, however, is the complacency of the Government, and how Ministers are only now facing up to the scale of online fraud following shocking revelations that undercover police officers were able to steal the identities of dead children in order to infiltrate various climate change protest camps.

This is illustrated by Lord Taylor of Holbeach, the criminal information minister, announcing “tough” new plans which will see jail sentences of up to 10 years handed out to those rogue companies which supply printers and other equipment to fraudsters to enable them to clone credit cards or passports.

The Minister says the proposed new laws will build on an industry-wide code of conduct that has been developed by the Metropolitan Police and others. That may be so. But, given the scale of fraud, why is the Government now planning to undertake an extensive consultation exercise before tabling legislation in Parliament by the end of the year?

Given the seriousness of the problem, Lord Taylor should be acting now. Promises of actions later this year – and jail terms of “up to” 10 years that will not be passed by the courts – are unlikely to deter those who are prospering from the misery and upset being suffered by so many people as Britain teeters on the brink of a triple dip recession.