What are the Police in Suffolk doing to combat the growing problem of identity theft?
In response, the Chair to the Police Authority advised Council that identity theft was committed by stealing or obtaining personal information including, for example, passport, driving licence, bank details, name, address and postcode etc and that these could be obtained through the commission of a burglary or theft, personal details discarded in rubbish, internet hacking or data theft by employees in a position of trust. She added that the documents and information were then used to obtain credit via the finance industry. The Chair to the Police Authority went on to say that the true extent of identity theft, and subsequent fraud, was difficult to assess based on requirements of national crime recording standards as set by the Home Office. She added, however, that in Suffolk during the first eight months of this year, up to 30 November 2007, Suffolk Constabulary had recorded a total of 863 fraud and forgery offences and that a small percentage of these would relate to identity theft a
