Royal Mail is supporting this week’s ‘Get Safe Online Week’, which runs through to this Saturday, 24 October, with a special postmark. The postmark follows the publication of Royal Mail research around the risk of ID fraud when home moving.
The research, involving 12,000 home movers, found that more than 1 in 10 (15%) had received in excess of 20 items of mail addressed to a former resident during the first month in their new home. Worryingly more than half (52%) had received sensitive financial mail. The findings are even more shocking given last Thursday’s ONS announcement that application fraud – which is linked to ID fraud – has increased by 14% in the last financial year.
Get Safe Online, which is in its tenth year, is a joint partnership between the Government, the National Crime Agency (NCA) and Ofcom. This year’s week centres on the theme of ‘It’s Always Personal’. The campaign aims to educate, inform and raise awareness of internet security issues in order to encourage confident, safe use of the internet.
Royal Mail’s postmark will be applied to millions of UK stamped mail nationwide this week. The postmark reads ‘Get Safe Online Week getsafeonline.org’.
Jim Conning, Managing Director of Data Services, at Royal Mail, said: “We want to help raise awareness and protect consumers whether they are shopping online or moving home. With application fraud – when fraudsters open an account using fake or stolen documents in someone else’s name – up by more than 10% – thousands of home movers are risking their identities and leaving themselves exposed to fraudulent loans and credit card applications.
“Without safeguarding your personal details online or taking out a Redirection Service, consumers have no control over about whose hands their details fall into.”
You can find out more about Get Safe Online week on their website.
