The original Miss Jones

Friday 29 May 2009

Identity Fraud


My weekend has started well. I had a letter this morning from one of my private pension firms telling me that on March 23rd a laptop computer with details of 109,000 members - including me - has been stolen from Marlow in Buckinghamshire. After their apology they assured me that the password was not easily accessible. Great! What does that mean to me?

The data, which was not encrypted, included names, addresses, dates of birth, previous employers, National Insurance numbers, and the case of those of us actually receiving pension, bank details too!


A trip to the bank on Monday morning for me. This form of fraud has been in the headlines a lot recently, but advice given is only of a general nature, and offered without any legal responsibility. It is as if these firms that loose the information are 'cocking a snoot'! 'We lost it, you sort it, sorry'. How cavalier.

How do these companies get in this mess?

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