19 June 2013

Gullible Brits make life easy for ID thieves

19 October 2009  |  3307 views  |  0 caution!

Despite a massive drive to educate the public about identity theft, Brits are still far too willing to hand over personal information to complete strangers, says Sophos man Graham Cluley.

Cluley and his colleague Carole Theriault took a camera out onto the streets of Bristol and conducted a Vox Pop, asking members of the public for their views on identity theft.

However, the pair weren't just after opinions, they wanted hard data as well, asking for names, dates of birth and e-mail addresses.

Despite the fact everyone questioned had heard the term identity theft, only one refused to give Cluley any personal information. Everyone else at least gave up their name, with most providing their date of birth and e-mail address too.

Cluley claims that with more time and effort he could probably have wheedled additional information, such as addresses and bank providers, out of his "victims".

The Vox Pop was conducted at the end of National Identity Fraud Prevention Week, suggesting the campaign to raise awareness has not been entirely successful, he says.

You can watch the video here.

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