Who's got designs on your identity?

They know your name and they've used it to open a fraudulent bank account. Steve Bell reports on a billion-a-year scam

As many as 70,000 folk may not be who they say they are.

That's how many people the Cabinet Office estimates fall victim to identity theft every year. The number has risen by 50 per cent in the last year and is 25 times what it was three years ago.

Rather than stealing wallets and handbags, professional criminals are copying credit card details, using information in discarded letters from banks or simply passing themselves off as someone else, to commit fraud.

The Association of Payment Clearing Services (APCS) estimates that credit card fraud will be running at £650m within a few years, up from £95m in 1998. Industry sources say that one high street bank alone, HSBC, last year put aside £100m just to cover the cost of credit card fraud. Overall, the Cabinet Office reckons the cost of identity theft is £1.3bn a year ... and rising.