ID thieves 'target current accounts'

Making it easier for customers to switch banks may have helped trigger a growth in the number of fraudulent attempts to open a current account using someone else's details.

Credit checking firm Experian says the final three months of 2014 saw a big rise in the number of criminal attempts to fool the application systems operated by current account providers.

The three-month period saw 79 current account frauds detected per 10,000 cases, compared to just 60 during the corresponding quarter in 2013.

Experian says identity theft was involved in 47 per cent of the fraudulent current account applications which were detected in the last quarter of 2014, compared to only 27 per cent a year earlier.

The firm believes the trend may have been partly driven by criminals attempting to take advantage of new rules that have been introduced to make life easier for customers who want to switch their current account.

Copyright Press Association 2015