Partner Profiles

At Fellowes®, we are dedicated to providing our consumers with workspace products and solutions that enhance the creation, management, storage and protection of important information. Since 2005 we have been proud to support National identity Fraud Prevention and to help businesses and individuals across Europe protect themselves from identity fraud.

More homes and businesses trust Fellowes, shredders to protect themselves from identity fraud than any other shredder brand in the UK - because we have developed new cutting-edge features including SafeSense technology™ to ensure all of our shredders are easy to use, delivering enhanced performance, reliability and performance.

By investing in a shredder for your home or your office, you can help to protect your identity. Use a cross cut shredder and always shred anything containing personal or confidential information before you throw it away. Want to know more? Click here to find the right shredder for your needs and help stop identity fraud.

www.fellowes.com/gb

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Metropolitan Police Initiatives

‘Sterling' is the Metropolitan Police's initiative to find new ways to address economic crime. The main thrust of this strategy is to move forward together with partners in a more proactive interventionist approach to solve the problem of economic crime in London. As part of this initiative, a ‘Fraud Alert' website has been set up and maintained by the Metropolitan Police. The site contains advice and information from the police on all kinds of fraud, including identity fraud and company fraud. www.met.police.uk/fraudalert

More details on Sterling is available from this leaflet, available for download:
Download Met Police Sterling Leaflet. The Met Police's economic crime strategy

Sterling is also currently working closely with Companies House in Cardiff to combat Corporate Identity frauds. This major initiative is explained in the following leaflet:

Download Met Police Scambusters. How to protect your business against fraud

Office of Fair Trading Initiatives

The Office of Fair Trading has set up an initiative designed to educate consumers

How to recognise a scam, – is it too good to be true?

A scam is when people con you out of your cash. There are hundreds of types of scams – fake lotteries and prize draws, incredible schemes to make money quickly, fake investment plans, work from home schemes the list goes on and on.

The Office of Fair Trading have a web page outlining how these scams work, and also have produced a leaflet.

Website:
www.oft.gov.uk

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The National Fraud Authority (NFA) was established on 1 October 2008 to increase protection for the UK economy from the harm caused by fraud. It works with private, public and third sector organisations to initiate, co-ordinate and communicate counter-fraud activity across the economy.

The Authority's priorities are to tackle key fraud threats to the UK and to act effectively to pursue fraudsters and hold them to account. Also, the NFA is working to improve the support available to fraud victims and to build on the UK's capability to share and act on fraud knowledge, both nationally and internationally.

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The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) is the largest campaigning pressure group promoting and protecting the interests of the self-employed and owners of small firms. Formed in 1974, it now has over 215,000 members across 33 regions and 230 branches. On the member benefits side, it offers assistance and support 24 hours a day, while its lobbying arm - led by the Westminster Press and Parliamentary office - applies pressure on MPs, Government and Whitehall, lobbies politicians in their constituencies and puts the FSB viewpoint over to the media. The FSB is non-profit making and non-party political.

One of the major benefits is the FSB's legal helpline which operates 24 hours a day. Last year, the helpline received over 100,000 calls, the majority of calls on employment matters but also dealing with issues such as commercial contract, landlord and tenant and consumer affairs. For more information call 020 7592 8100 or visit www.fsb.org.uk

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Equifax is a credit reference agency committed to providing consumers with instant access to the information held on them, which lenders use as part of the process when approving credit applications.

Equifax has been leading the campaign for consumer education regarding credit information since 2001. In 2003, it launched the first ever instant online credit report available from www.equifax.co.uk. The service helped to combat the growing issue of ID theft, enabled consumers to keep track of their financial transactions, and also provided them with a new level of access to their credit information

Today, consumers can review their credit commitments to monitor fraudulent applications, rectify any incorrect information, find out how lenders would score their credit applications, and, overall, benefit from better financial management. Equifax has helped over three quarter of a million consumers by providing them with their credit information. With its 'Credit Education' pages, consumers can learn how to improve their credit score, which life events may affect their ability to gain credit and how to protect themselves against identity theft and fraud.

Equifax enables consumers to protect their identity and manage credit through a portfolio of services: The Equifax Credit Report™ can be accessed for the first 30 days free. If the customer does not cancel before the end of the 30 Day Free Trial, the service will continue at £6.99 per month, giving them unlimited online access to their credit information and weekly alerts on any changes to their credit file.

This is the first step anyone should take when they think they have been a victim of ID Fraud. The Equifax Credit Report™ will show any fraudulent accounts that have been opened in your name.

Equifax also includes online facilities enabling consumers to dispute any possible discrepancies in their credit file, quickly and easily. And the company's expert Credit File Advice Centre provides consumers with personal advice and support to resolve queries with their credit file, including assistance with the problems that arise if an individual is a victim of identity fraud. There is also a glossary of terms to help consumers understand the information in their credit file and the terminology used by lenders.

To learn how to protect your identity from fraudsters, visit www.equifax.co.uk today.

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CIFAS The UK's Fraud Prevention Service was established in 1988 by the major lenders in the UK consumer credit industry. Today the CIFAS membership extends beyond consumer credit and encompasses telecommunications, factoring, insurance, utilities, share dealing and commercial credit. CIFAS is a not for profit membership association solely dedicated to the prevention of financial crime. CIFAS provides a range of fraud prevention services to its Members and represents them to government, the media and the business community, and provides them with best practice guidance, training and networking opportunities.

CIFAS services are offered not just to Members but also to the general public through the Protective Registration Service which helps to protect consumers from identity fraud.

To learn more about CIFAS and how to protect your identity from fraudsters, visit www.cifas.org.uk.

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Callcredit is the UK's fastest growing credit reference agency and since its launch in 2000 has maintained an ongoing campaign to increase awareness and help people protect themselves against identity fraud.

It has developed an ID theft early warning system for consumers and undertaken numerous pieces of research, which have gained widespread coverage in the press.

Callcredit has used its research to pinpoint areas where people are most at risk of becoming a victim of ID theft and has tracked the ability of people to protect themselves against ID thieves.

For example, last year someone living in North London was nearly four times more likely to be a victim of ID thieves than the residents of Manchester, while only two out of ten people were confident they knew exactly how to protect themselves.

As a credit reference agency Callcredit holds public information, like electoral roll details and court data on its database, this is combined with information from lenders about credit commitments to make up a credit file for every adult in the UK.

A credit file can be accessed by lenders who are deciding whether to grant credit to an individual, or by the person to whom the file relates.

As ID thieves often attempt to take out credit, or move existing credit facilities when they perpetrate ID fraud a credit file is often the first place it will become evident that someone has become a victim of ID fraud.

MyCallcredit allows people to monitor their credit file online and Callcredit has developed an alert service to tell people when their credit file changes – thereby acting as an early warning service, which limits the impact an ID thief can have.

Without this early warning system ID thieves can remain undetected for many months and the resulting administrative nightmare can take hours of work to unravel.

Consumers can test Callcredit's ID theft early warning system free for a month by visiting www.mycallcredit.co.uk.

And the full year subscription cost is £44.99 – a cheaper and more effective solution to ID theft than anything else available in the marketplace.

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Experian is one of the leading credit reference agencies and responds to around one million requests for one-off credit reports from consumers every year. It helps many consumers with credit-related issues, including giving assistance to the victims of identity fraud

As the increase in identity fraud shows no signs of slowing down and the use of credit continues to grow in the UK, services provided by Experian such as Credit Expert ( www.creditexpert.co.uk), which offers unlimited online access to your complete credit history, will become more important.

CreditExpert is a subscription membership service priced at £6.99 per month, allowing unlimited online access to your credit report, along with additional help and advice about your credit report and managing your finances. The service comes with a free 30-day trial period that allows members to see and use all the service's benefits.

Experian also uses its consumer education programme established in 1996, to alert people to the dangers of identity fraud. A free leaflet is available on 0870 241 6212

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ACPO - Association of Chief Police Officers

http://www.acpo.police.uk

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The Identity and Passport Service (IPS) wis a customer service organisation. We deliver the National Identity Service and identity cards; issue passports and provide passport verification services. Through the General Register Office (GRO), we issue certificates for births, deaths and marriages.

IPS is engaged in a range of activity to reduce identity fraud, working with organisations in the public and private sector to identify and implement cost effective measures. This includes a website www.identitytheft.org.uk and leaflet to give the public advice about actions they can take to protect themselves against identity fraud, and what to do if they have become a victim.

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The British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) is a powerful and influential Network of Accredited Chambers of Commerce across the UK; a Network that directly serves not only its member businesses but the wider business community. Our reach extends to nearly one million UK businesses.

The BCC is the Ultimate Business Network. No other business organisation has the geographical spread of the BCC, nor the multi-sectoral, multi-size membership achieved by local UK Accredited Chambers of Commerce and a Network of Chambers across the globe.

Every Chamber sits at the very heart of its local business community providing representation, services, information and guidance to its members. Supporting 5 million employees in the UK, the BCC works with local and national Government to shape policy affecting businesses of all sizes, and focus on key areas of activity including International Trade, Skills Development and Business Services.

The BCC is locally placed, regionally focused, and nationally represented. We are also part of Eurochambres and the global network of Chambers of Commerce – truly the Ultimate Business Network.

For more information or to contact your local Chamber of Commerce visit www.britishchambers.org.uk

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The British Retail Consortium The British Retail Consortium is the lead trade association for the UK retail industry.

The British Retail Consortium is the lead trade association representing the whole range of retailers, from the large multiples and department stores through to independents, selling a wide selection of products through centre of town, out of town, rural and virtual stores.

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About Royal Mail Group

We are the parent company of Royal Mail, Post Office® and Parcelforce Worldwide. We are proud of our history, which shows the amazing impact of our business on the lives of people in the UK and around the world. We have a great public service pedigree, with centuries of innovation and industry making our business what it is today.

What makes us unique? We reach everyone in the UK through our trusted mails, Post Office® and parcels businesses. We also employ almost 193,000 people in the UK. That's almost 1% of the working population. Every working day we collect, process and deliver around 82 million items to 27 million addresses at some of the lowest prices in Europe. Each week we serve 28 million customers through our network of some 14,300 Post Office® branches and deliver some 337 million parcels a year through Parcelforce Worldwide and General Logistics Systems, our domestic and European parcels businesses. With over 370 years of experience behind us, we may have the infrastructure and know-how, but we also have to change to meet the challenges ahead.

Our vision is to be demonstrably the best and most trusted postal services company in the world.

For more information on our products and services visit www.royalmail.com

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