“National Identity Fraud Prevention Week” Used To Sell Shredders

A police-sponsored scheme to highlight the danger of ID theft is being used by a shredder company to sell its equipment.

The National Identity Fraud Prevention Week campaign launched this week, supported by the Metropolitan Police, the Association of Chief Police Officers and the British Chamber Of Commerce. However it also contains overt references to the importance of shredding documents and links to shredder specialist Fellowes.

A survey on the dangers of identity fraud, reported by outlets including the BBC, was commissioned by the shredder company as part of the week long marketing campaign. “Research conducted by Fellowes shows that 79 percent of businesses make no effort to destroy the sensitive material that they throw away or are preparing to recycle. This risks not just their identities being stolen, but those of their colleagues, their company, and its clients,” according to a blog posting on the National Identity Fraud Prevention Week site.

Quoted as a “National Identity Fraud Prevention Week spokesman” by the BBC, Tyron Hill is actually European marketing director for Fellowes.

The campaign which is presented as law-enforcement backed scheme to help reduce identity theft offers businesses the chance to download “resources” to help managers “protect their business, educate your employees and also protect your own identity”. Downloading an “ID Fraud Office Poster” turns out to be an advert for Fellowes featuring its bulldog logo and the words “Don’t Regret it. Shred it now!”.

The organisers of National Identity Fraud Prevention Week were contacted for comment on whether a site dedicated to stamping out criminal acts should be used to sell shredding equipment but did not reply in time for this article.

Banking trade body APACS released figures in March showing that online fraud in the UK has increased by 132 percent from losses in 2007. The UK payments association said Internet only fraud totaled around £52.5m.

In April, the UK government admitted that existing regulations designed to protect consumers and businesses from fraud need to be updated to cope with increasing amounts of online commerce.

In a statement Consumer Affairs Minister Gareth Thomas said that British consumers are among the most prolific users of online commerce in Europeand subsequently increasingly at risk from online fraud. “E-criminals and fraudsters can be highly sophisticated, mobile, working across regional and national boundaries. With British consumers making almost double the amount of online transactions compared to the European average, they are twice as likely to be exposed to online fraudsters,” said Thomas.