The number of victims of identity theft in the UK rose by 57 per cent last year and social media sites like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn have become a "hunting ground" for identity thieves, according to figures released today by a fraud prevention service.
The data, taken from 261 companies in the UK, suggests fraudsters are increasingly getting people's personal information from social media sites, figures from fraud prevention service Cifas suggest.
Cifas said Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn had become a "hunting ground" for identity thieves.
It said there were more than 148,000 victims in the UK in 2015 compared with 94,500 in 2014.
A small percentage of cases involved fictitious identities but most fraudsters assumed the identity of a real person after accessing their name, date of birth, address and bank details. More than 85 per cent of the frauds were carried out online.
Some personal details were found by hacking computers but increasingly fraudsters used social media to put together the pieces of someone's identity, the BBC quoted Cifas as saying.
It urged people to check their privacy settings and think carefully about what information they share online.
A report out earlier this year estimated the annual cost of fraud in the UK was 193 billion pounds - equal to nearly 3,000 pounds per head of population.
Business fraud accounted for 144 billion pounds, the study said, while fraud against individuals was estimated at 9.7 billion pounds.
Simon Dukes, Cifas chief executive, said: "Fraudsters are opportunists. As banks and lenders have become more adept at detecting false identities, fraudsters have focused on stealing and using genuine people's details instead.
"The likes of Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and other online platforms are much more than just social media sites - they are now a hunting ground for identity thieves.
"We are urging people to check their privacy settings today and think twice about what they share. To a fraudster, the information we put online is a goldmine.
