Who is most at risk of identity theft? The answer might surprise you

If asked, who would you say are the type of people most vulnerable to identity theft? The young and transient, whose credit cards find their way to the doormats of long-left flat shares? The elderly and vulnerable, who unwittingly reveal personal information to fraudsters? How about the savvy and entrepreneurial?

A new report by Cifas reveals that around 20 per cent of identity fraud victims are company directors, even though they make up less than 9 per cent of the UK’s population. Cifas, a not-for-profit company which works to protect organisations and individuals from financial crime, says this makes company directors one of the most at-risk groups for identity fraud crimes.

Not only were company directors statistically more likely to be victims of fraud, but as with other victims they were also found to be at risk from being targeted more than once by identity fraudsters. The Cifas report suggests 17 per cent of director-level victims had suffered impersonation fraud more than once across the three-and-a-half-year period.