One in five Brits not learning ID theft lessons

When it comes to identity theft, it seems that fat-walleted Brits couldn't care less, with millions happy to give out their personal financial details to cold callers and not even bat an eyelash if £500 disappeared from their bank account.

According to figures from Experian, identity fraudsters' most-wanted data - a user's mother's maiden name and their date of birth - are easy to get hold of with a simple cold call. Twenty per cent of those surveyed said they'd give out the former to someone who rung them up and 46 per cent said they'd give out the latter with a bit of phone prompting.

More worryingly, it seems Britons are as lax with their cash as they are with their personal details. While 80 per cent of money-conscious Brits reckon they could name their bank balance to the nearest hundred pounds, an either incredibly flush or not very attentive 14 per cent said they wouldn't spot it if a light-fingered identity thief relieved their bank account of £500 - with another three per cent saying they wouldn't notice if a grand from their account went the way of Lord Lucan.

While keeping an eye on the identity thieves making off with their money appears not to be people's strong point, it seems that they're being similarly careless about stopping scammers getting their hands on our financial particulars. Eleven per cent of those that Experian asked said they throw their bank documents in the bin without shredding them.

Identity theft is a growing business. Statistics from the government say that the activity is costing more than £1bn a year and Cifas said that more than 43,000 people were victims of the crime last year.

Should we be worried? Jill Stevens, director of consumer relations at Experian, said that while consumers shouldn't keep themselves awake at night over the issue, they should always be vigilant.

"We want people to be aware of [identity theft]. It isn't the end of the world if it happens but it gets messier and messier the longer you leave it or aren't aware that it's happening," she told silicon.com. "People have got to be vigilant and they've got to take the time to check who they're communicating with... It's inconvenient to have your credit history hijacked - you have to do a lot of work to persuade people to close down false accounts and get your credit back on track."

Stevens added that she was aware of cases in which people had lost thousands of pounds to the fraudsters and also of people who had been unaware that their identity was being exploited for three or four years.