Selling a home raises identity fraud risk

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Copied from https://www.themovechannel.com

With an estimated 100,000 people each year affected by identity theft in the U.K. the British public is becoming increasingly wary of the need to safeguard personal information. However, according to National Homebuyers, the public still lack vigilance, especially when selling their home.

The company believes that people placing their property on the open market are taking insufficient safety precautions and are allowing unscrupulous people to visit their home under the pretence of being buyers.

National Homebuyers recently conducted a survey of people that have sold their home through traditional routes at some time in the last five years. They questioned 500 vendors to assess how important they deemed the issue of security to be.

Prior to placing their property on the market, almost one fifth of those asked said they believed that allowing people to view their home posed a potential security threat. Yet, despite this, an amazing 87.2% of survey participants said that they had let potential buyers walk around areas of their home unattended and 83.4% said that they had not asked their estate agent to send a representative to accompany all viewings.

In addition to this, 313 of the 500 survey participants disclosed that they had probably left unshredded personal items in their rubbish bins when showing people around their home and only 37.4% confirmed that they kept all of their passwords and PINs in their head.

A shockingly high percentage of the remainder admitted to recording this sensitive information either on a kitchen noticeboard, in a paper based diary or in their purse or wallet; all of which could be easily accessed by anyone visiting their home.

Interestingly, even simple anti-burglary measures were often neglected. Less than half of those surveyed said that they had reviewed the fitting of locks and chains on doors and windows. While only a very small minority had even thought of fitting deadlocks, something that is well known as an effective burglar deterrent.

94.2% of those questioned confessed to leaving household or vehicle keys within easy reach of viewers and at least half of the 8.4% that owned a burglar alarm had told viewers that the system didn't actually function.

Other potentially dangerous admissions included advising potential buyers that spare sets of keys were kept in outbuildings and that padlocks on side gates leading in to the garden weren't secure.

While only 0.6% of people believed that a viewer of their home had gone on to commit identity theft after obtaining personal information from them, 9.4% said that they believed items had been removed from their property under this pretence. The main items thought to have been stolen were cash and small items of jewellery although there is no concrete proof of these beliefs.

Julian King, director of National Homebuyers, said: "This research has revealed some very worrying trends and will, I hope, alert home sellers to the fact that they have to be vigilant."

"Identity theft can be very upsetting for individuals. Very often potential perpetrators only need to obtain very basic personal information, much of which can be found in one's home, in order to do this. Even simple measures such as marking possessions with special security markers may well make a difference were a burglary to be committed. Hindsight is a wonderful thing but no-one would want to cite this as a result of experiencing a form of criminal activity."

National Homebuyers purchases all types of property and acts as a cash buyer with no chain, providing an ideal service for homeowners looking to sell quickly. This removes the stress and dramatically cuts the time involved in selling a property on the open market. The company enables people to sell their home without anyone ever having to view the property.