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Identity Theft
Our guide can help your business to keep its identity safe and out of the hands of fraudsters.
Protect your identity
If you think you’ve fallen for a scam or someone knows your details, contact us.
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Share with care
Think about what you share in person and online as fraudsters like to search anywhere to find details they can use.
Don’t share any banking or payment details on social media.
Go paper free
Fraudsters can look anywhere to try to find business or banking details. So think about what you throw away.
To cut down on paper, get bank and credit statements online.
If you don’t want to go paper free, file your business and banking details away or destroy them.
Cancel lost cards or documents
If you lose a card or an important document then you should cancel it right away.
Contact us to cancel a card.
Check your credit rating
To find out if credit checks have been made in your business name, sign up to a trusted credit agency. They can tell you about your rating and find out if anything odd has taken place.
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At first, it can be hard to tell if your business identity has been stolen. But if you believe it has been, contact us right away and we’ll secure your bank account.
If a website your firm uses has been hacked, find out if any of your details have been stolen. The website should let you know if this has happened. But if you don’t hear anything, contact them to find out.
Other steps you can take are to:
- Change your passwords and security questions - This will help to stop anyone from using your account or guessing the answers.
- Check your accounts - If a site is hacked, make sure nobody has used it or changed your details.
- Tell other sites - If your firm’s details are on other sites tell them about the theft.
- Contact Action Fraud - They can help you to report a crime or give general advice. Action Fraud collects data from across the UK to help banks and other businesses combat fraud.
- Register with CIFAS - They can help to protect you and stop fraudsters from using your details to apply for products or services in your name.
Tell-tales signs of identity theft
Keep an eye out for the things below as they can help to tell you if your business identity has been stolen.
Odd payments on your account
- Check your bank or credit accounts to make sure you know what’s been paid in and out.
- And look for any other changes you didn’t make.
- If you spot anything odd, contact us right away.
Post you didn’t expect
- Letters may arrive that you know nothing about. Even credit cards that your firm didn’t apply for.
- If you get unwanted mail, or think it has been stolen or redirected, contact Royal Mail.
Credit being refused or unknown credit history
- Your business credit score is good but you get turned down for credit. Make sure you know all the items that show up on a credit check.
Calls about debt
- You could get calls from debt collectors or companies about things you didn’t buy.