BUILDING Society bosses have issued a renewed warning for people across York and North Yorkshire to be vigilant about their personal details after one of its laptops was stolen.

The computer was taken during a domestic burglary at the home of a Society employee, triggering the fresh alert.

The Nationwide Building Society, which has a branch in Parliament Street, York, has written to reassure customers that no accounts had been targeted, and no money lost, as a result.

However, Danny Harrison, identity protection manager at York-based financial protection firm CPP, said: "All it takes is a name and address for someone to start committing identity theft so it is always a risk when personal details go missing."

Philip Williamson, the Society's chief executive, explained: "The laptop contained some customer information, to be used mainly for marketing purposes.

"The information did not include any PINS, passwords, account balance information or memorable data and I can reassure you that there has been no loss of money from our customers' accounts as a result of this incident.

"Since the loss of the laptop we have taken steps to improve our security measures further and provide additional protection to our members."

Gary Duncan, a York civil servant and Nationwide customer who received a copy of the letter, said it was "unnerving" to think of criminals potentially having access to his details.

"I was concerned when I first received the letter, but it did stress that the stolen laptop didn't have any important personal or account details on it, and I am always very careful with my PIN number and details."

Mr Harrison said: "It doesn't help when, in this case, it is nothing the customer has done wrong, but the building society."

He urged people to always check their credit statements to ensure everything was in order and to know when the statements were due so the customer could contact the card issuer if it did not arrive.

"It is the time of year when people might have overspent over Christmas. There's the possibility they don't really want to know how much they have spent and don't check their statements carefully. Fraudsters rely on this - on people who just try and pay their bill, or the minimum amount, without looking at the statement in detail."

A CPP survey revealed 85 per cent of people in York and North Yorkshire are at risk of falling victim to identity fraud by binning junk mail without shredding it.

It showed the majority of people throw away letters offering credit cards, loans and competition offers without opening them, leaving enough information in their rubbish for a thief to steal our identity. In 2005, 278 people in York were ripped off by criminals.