A CHARITY worker has told how she narrowly escaped being the victim of identity theft after internet fraudsters illegally applied for credit cards in her name.

Sally Hutchinson, who works for Age Concern in York, said it was only while her husband was sorting through old mail for recycling that the situation came to light.

She said: “I generally throw away any mail that says to ‘The Occupier’, but my husband is a keen recycler. He noticed a letter from Royal Mail addressed to the occupier, which said I had asked for my mail to be redirected.”

Upon contacting Royal Mail, the 57-year-old discovered her post had been redirected to an address in Berkshire and the same address had been carrying out credit checks on her.

After informing the police, she arranged protection for her credit cards with a specialist company and registered with a fraud prevention service. However, her problems did not end there.

“On Saturday morning I got a letter from Asda Finance saying someone had applied for a credit card in my name.

“I called Asda and told them I had not applied and that I didn’t want the card. But it still turned up on Monday.”

Days later, another unwanted credit card arrived from Tesco and Mrs Hutchinson found out the gang had applied using her name, address and even date of birth – information she believes was obtained by the criminals from Companies House.

Had they been successful, the fraudsters could have run up bills for thousands of pounds in her name.

“If my husband had not opened that original letter from Royal Mail, these credit cards would have gone to the bogus address,” she said.

After cancelling all her cards and re-applying, as well as spending £70 on card protection, she said it had taken days to put her life back together.

The 57-year-old said: “I’m never going to feel safe again. You just feel so exposed and vulnerable.”

A spokesman for North Yorkshire Police said Mrs Hutchinson’s case was under investigation and said she had had a “narrow escape”.

“This is another reminder that people should be vigilant with their post,” he said. If you think you have been a victim of identity theft, phone the police on 0845 60 60 247.


‘Organised criminals’

Nick Jones, of York-based card protection company, CPP said redirecting mail was an easy way for criminals to gain a lot of personal information about someone.

“With that information they can apply for credit cards,” he said. “These people are organised criminals and they are clever and will go to great lengths to steal your identity.”

Last year, there were about 200,000 victims of fraud.

The best way to keep ahead of the conmen was to regularly check your credit history and bank statements for unusual activity and never verify your account details to email or telephone correspondents.

For more in formation visit protectmyidentity.co.uk