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I don't have any story to tell, but having just booked a long haul flight with the agents of a well known airline, their was their reply when I complained about sending personal details in an unencrypted email.
"Hi
You are the only one person who has this objection no body else has and people are providing all the info as they do not want to have problems when they reach other side at their destination.

This is by law that you have to provide API advance passenger information.

I can only advice you. Regard to e mails not being encrypted well if some one want to steal your info they can steal many other way. If you like you can send copies by mail or by fax.

Choice is yours but must have this info.

bye"

No wonder people have their ID stolen.

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About a year ago I used a cashpoint in a convenience store which I use as a last resort, normally I go to a bank to use a "free" one.

The next day I got a call from my bank telling me that someone had been trying to withdraw several hundred pounds from my account in Warsaw. Apparently they'd made several attempts including one which was half an hour before they rang me.

The man on the helpdesk was really helpful and gave me a reference number and cancelled all my cards with that bank and gave me a reference number in case I needed any more help. The new cards arrived the next day!!

Fortunately I didn't lose any money as they were trying to withdraw more than I had in my account and they put a stop on it immediately.

Checked my online banking one day to find that instead of £100 credit, had a £5000 debit. Realised my debit card had been copied at a hotel in London 4 days earlier -the clerk was fiddling under the desk saying the machine wasn't working properly. Two things I learned as a result of this:- Firstly - NEVER let your card be out of sight, ALWAYS insist that it remains in view. Secondly - keep the permitted overdraft on the card as low as possible. I had a £10,000 overdraft limit, I now limit it to £100. My bank (Halifax) were very sympathetic and my money reinstated within 10 days, without any penalty. BE AWARE

Some years ago, a representative from a major bank rang me up and asked to confirm details, I was expecting the call as my wife was having issues setting up an account, but the employee took extreme umberage to my asking her to prove who she was and where she was calling from.

As I said at the time: "I don't know you from a bar of soap. For all I know you could be a scammer trying to steal my details in order to clear out the account"

Far too many people are far too trusting of callers claiming to be from a bank, etc.

Similarly far too many organisations are far too happy to give away my information to someone posing as me (blagging, spoofing, various other names)

The UK has lax laws on these kinds of attempts and the penalties for blagging amount to being told "Naughty, naughty, don't do it again!"

ID Theft is a very serious crime with far reaching financial and psychological consequences for the victim. Currently it's being treated as almost "victimless" white collar fraud but that attitude is slowly changing - far too slowly.

I been checking my account few days ago and someone used my card details to purchase stuff on line. I have no idea how it’s possible without more details on a card holder to get something with a card like that??? I have not lost my card, and I have not been using it at the restaurants or hotels or taking cash. I reported it to the police and my bank, they supposed to investigate it. I just wish I knew how this is happen because I am not sure if that won't happen again!! How else can I protect my card? So it is possible it can happen to anyone. They purchased something for £160 in total. 3 card purchases in one day!!!!

I was recently subjected to Identity theft with the criminals trying to open an online account with the Halifax and then using those details to order a mobile phone from 3G. Fortunately neither attempt succeeded and I was a loss as to how they had obtained my details.

A chance comment by the 3G Customer Service Rep that I was the second person in the last hour she had spoken to this had happened to and the other victim was also abroad on holiday made me wonder if the weak link was perhaps the Airline I had booked with.

Is there a pattern?

Have other viewers suffered simlar identity theft issues after booking a flight with an airline?

They do have a lot of data about us especially now with the API requirements.

I too had a similar problem when I went on holiday earlier this year. I took my card with me, which I hadn't used for several months, had never been lost and is always on my person when I'm out. The abuse of my card started the day I went on holiday and stopped the day I returned. I did wonder about the travel company because of the timing, but my husband booked and paid for it with his card. That made it seem like someone who knows me and that was an even worse feeling than the theft of £1000 from my account.

I thought the culprit would be easy for the bank to trace as I contacted the companies where things had been ordered and they were all able to confirm that my card had been used to purchase goods/services and the recipient's address was not mine. My card was also used to pay off the person's argos store card, so that should have been really easy to trace. The companies couldn't release the names to me because of data protection, but they were happy to supply the details to the police as they were sure this would identify the culprit. It was that simple and I was really hopeful that the thief would be caught.

The bank however refused to investigate and the police could only request the info if the bank instructed them to, I couldn't instruct the police because technically it is the bank that has been defrauded ... So the thief gets away with it.

I heard from a bank insider that theft of less than £5000 is factored into the system and they do not investigate any amount under £5000! I wrote to my bank, asking them to confirm this policy, but they failed to address this point at all in their reply, instead waffeling on about how they sympathise as many of the bank staff had also been affected by this crime. So I guess it must be true that they don't investigate theft of less than £5000 and they're too ashamed to admit it.

It appears to me that banks have created a crime that has no penalty ie. Credit Card theft of less than £5000. If only I was criminally minded ....!

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In 2001 I was the victim of Identity Fraud.

A Zimbabwean National completely became me, living and working illegally in the United Kingdom under my name and National Insurance number. My stolen passport provided him with all the identification he needed to get a driving licence, have my doctors notes re-directed, gain employement, receive council accomodation, go abroad on holiday and get married, all in my name.

This seems to be an unusual crime in respect of the fact that the gentleman in question did not steal my identity in order to benefit himself financially, rather to live and work here in the UK undetected.

The problems I have had in resolving this have been endless, with little or no help from any agency or organisation to come to my aid. There seems to be no communication between them in order to protect the victim whatsoever, from the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Office right down to my local Police Station.

I would be very interested to hear your stories if you have been the victim of a similar sort of Identity Crime to myself.

Take care and good luck!
James

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