Application and identity fraud on the decrease

According to the Southern African Fraud Prevention Service (SAFPS), the amount of money obtained through fraud such as identity crime and application fraud was lower in 2009 than it was in 2008. This fraud is not from stealing actual data from the Internet, but instead is through physical identity theft.

Southern African Fraud Prevention Service members recorded identity crime and application fraud amounting to R720 170 608. This figure is lower than the R1.3 billion reported in 2008. Pat Cunningham, Executive Director of Southern African Fraud Prevention Service (SAFPS) is of the opinion that the lower figure is as a result of both the economic crisis during 2009, with the major financial institutions tightening up on credit granting with the National Credit Act also playing a part.

However, the SAFPS does indicate that more than 11 700 people were filed on their systems during 2009 for attempted fraud which shows a slight increase of 782 filings over the 2008 figure. This brings the total number of people filed with SAFPS for fraudulent application and identity crime to more than 67 000.

A breakdown of the available data shows the following trends:

Age group

Total

Male

Female

<20 1337 980357 20-30 4450 3694 756 30-40 4062 3235 827 40-50 1415 1049 366 50-60 439 325 114 The SAFPS data also shows that the use of false documentation through the presentation of such things as false payslips, false bank statements and drivers licences was the highest number of filings amounting to 7 880 reports. The number of people who applied for the SAFPS protection service because they had been impersonated amounted to 1382. A new service was introduced in late 2009 for the reporting of employee fraud amongst SAFPS members. This service is still in its infancy and it will be some time before critical mass shows meaningful data. SAFPS can be contacted on (011) 869 6460 or e-mail safps@safps.org.za or visit the website www.safps.org.za email this to a friend tt tt printer friendly version “,”body-href”:””}]