HOUSEHOLDERS are being urged to get shredding in a bid to beat the identity fraudsters.

The plea comes from police and crime prevention agencies after a study found that more than 18 million households are failing to protect themselves by throwing away personal documents.

A staggering three-quarters of household waste contains sensitive material, such as cheques, utility bills, bank statements or insurance documents, which could help identity fraudsters.

Identity fraudsters use information gleaned from "bin raiding" to open accounts and acquire credit cards in the name of innocent people. It is one of Britain's fastest growing crimes, costing more than £1billion a year.

But it seems people are failing to listen to previous warnings, despite a new poll which shows that the public fear becoming a victim of identify fraud more than pick-pocketing, mugging or even burglary.

An awareness drive was launched yesterday to coincide with the first ever National Identity Fraud Prevention Week, which aims to tackle the "it won't happen to me" syndrome and educate the public and businesses that they should be doing more to protect themselves.

Detective Sergeant Richard Niemier, of Dorset police's cheque and card unit, said anything which carries personal information about someone is enough to attract fraudsters.

"Even if it's a small piece of information the fraudster can then take hold of that and add it to other pieces of information. It's like building a big jigsaw puzzle."

He added that identity fraud is a lucrative business and is linked to organised crime and terrorism.

"The police are responding, the banks are responding. Now we need individuals to make sure they keep their documents secure and shred anything before they put it in the bin."

Jane Reay of Crimestoppers said: "Identity fraud is not a victimless crime.

"It can take up to 300 hours of frustrating phone calls to deal with banks, credit card companies and other lenders - incurring enormous personal time, effort and cost."

The campaign has set up a website - www.stop-idfraud.co.uk - and has a free-phone number 0800 18101810 - that the public can call to receive a Protect Your Identity guide.

First published: October 18