Identity thieves snatch £57,000 from bank account

A company director today told how £57,000 was cleared from her bank account by someone who had stolen her identity.

Veronique Attas discovered the money had vanished before her bank even suspected there was a problem.

The case highlights the rapidly growing problem of identity fraud, which is estimated to cost the economy £1.3billion a year. More than 120,000 such crimes were recorded in the UK last year, a rise of more than 20 per cent, according to fraud prevention service Cifas.

Publicity campaigns by credit card firms and banks have not stemmed the problem.

Ms Attas, who lives in north London, told how she put money from a property sale into her Lloyds TSB account for a few months while she decided how to invest it. But the thief, who has never been caught, needed only a few days to make a series of large withdrawals.

She was alerted when she got a letter saying her new bank card was ready to be collected in Peterborough. "I told them I hadn't ordered a new card and I didn't live anywhere near Peterborough. Then I discovered all the money had gone," said Ms Attas, 30.

"I just didn't know how it happened. The thief took out £5,000, then £20,000 and finally £32,000 using a fake passport and the worst copy of my signature I have ever seen."

The thief had carried out several transactions at a branch in Lincolnshire-while Ms Attas, a director of a PR firm, carried out all big transfers on the internet.

"It's a lot of money to take out and it went into different accounts," she said. "I was absolutely furious so much money could be moved without batting an eyelid but Lloyds TSB didn't think any of it was weird. A simple protection would be to keep photographs of all customers on file. She looked nothing like me."

Ms Attas, who is planning to buy a cottage in Italy, said Lloyds TSB did refund the money swiftly.

She has now split it between several accounts and has bought a safe and a shredder but she still does not know whether the woman hacked into her internet account or stole documents. "I'm not surprised they never caught her - it seems to be such a common problem," said Ms Attas.

Lloyds TSB confirmed the case but would not discuss the details. A spokesman said: "We do have safeguards in place to protect our customers."

Ms Attas's experience is one of several recent cases to hit the headlines.

Last month at Manchester Crown Court, Angela Hargreaves admitted fraud after stealing the identity of her landlady.

Hargreaves plotted to use her victim's birth and marriage certificates to sell her £565,000 property in Hale, Cheshire. She received a community punishment order.

Meanwhile, a victim of identity fraud has set up an online ID theft recovery service.

It took Richard Cohen, 43, a solicitor from Elstree, six months to clear his name after fraudsters took out an Orange mobile phone account using his identity and racked up a £2,000 bill.

He discovered the outstanding payment when he was refused a mortgage because of a poor credit history as a result of the rogue phone bill.

He said: "It was a surprise because I had never had an Orange phone before. Instead of coming to mug you, they just assume your identity."

The online service, www.identity recovery.co.uk, uses specialist computer technology and offers advice to prepare the necessary documentation to recover a stolen identity.