By Natasha Joseph
Identity theft could be costing South Africa more than R1-billion every year, according to a major credit bureau and a national insurance organisation.
The SA Fraud Prevention Service, a non-profit organisation that works to combat fraud, identity theft and financial crime, says it is getting up to 25 complaints daily.
In a statement issued on Tuesday, the Consumer Profile Bureau said that ID theft had become "the white collar crime of choice" because it was "so easy".
Armed with somebody else's personal details and ID number, a fraudster could "open numerous accounts ...and then go on a spending spree", said the bureau's managing director, Fred Steffers.
Steffers said Alexander Forbes Insurance estimated that identity theft-related fraud had cost South African businesses R276-million in the first three months of this year.
Steffers said the "identity theft fraud chain" usually started with the theft of personal documents: credit cards, driver's licences, passports or ID books.
Minimise risk
Many South Africans did not protect these documents well enough and provided their ID numbers "far too readily".
"There is a widespread lack of understanding of just how valuable this information is. An ID document should be protected just as carefully as a cheque book or a credit card," said Steffers.
Steffers suggested that people should "minimise the risk" of identity theft by not carrying extra credit cards, and by cancelling any accounts that were not in use.
South African Fraud Prevention Service head Pat Cunningham said identity theft was a huge problem.
It was possible that South Africa was losing R1 billion a year because of ID theft, but "nobody has got any real figures". In the past two months the Fraud Prevention Service had received nearly 200 reports from people claiming to be victims of ID theft.
"We're getting 20 or 25 calls a day," he said.
Identity fraud was difficult to prevent because people were accessing ID documents and it was easy to get credit card details.
One should contact credit bureaus regularly to see if anybody had been making inquiries against one's name
The Fraud Prevention Service recommends that you immediately contact police to report the theft or loss of your ID.
For more details go to www.safps.org.za or telephone 086 010 1248.