By LISA SMYTH
INTERNET users were today warned to protect themselves against identity theft by performing a clean-up of all unused and unwanted online registrations.
They are advised to check which online subscriptions, registrations and accounts they still use and cancel those that they do not.
The appeal comes after research, commissioned by Capital One, revealed that in the UK alone, there are over 296 million unused and uncancelled registrations, accounts and subscriptions languishing on the world wide web - that is over nine accounts for each adult internet user in the UK.
Many online registrations and accounts require personal information such as names, addresses, dates of birth and telephone numbers, which could be used by fraudsters to steal identities.
On average, the services that have been set up, but forgotten - by internet users in the UK - include accounts on social networking sites, online subscriptions to magazines and newsletters, registrations to shopping or auction sites, registrations to online services such as estate agents or wedding sites, email accounts, subscriptions to listings and venue newsletters, accounts on photo sharing sites and online dating site accounts.
In total, over 4.7 million internet users have no idea how many online services they have signed up for. Two thirds admitted to not actively closing down registrations that they no longer use, and a third claim that they found the process 'difficult'.
However, the main reason given for not closing accounts was that the user had 'become bored and was no longer interested in that particular activity' (35%).
Over a quarter of respondents had simply 'forgotten' about the account and 25% had moved on to other sites without cancelling original registrations.
In some cases, these online registrations and accounts have remained unused and unchecked for up to two years (18%). The research also shows that there are around 450,000 internet users with at least one online account that has remained open but unused for 10 years or over.
Srini Gopalan, Head of Capital One in the UK, said: "The internet offers so many useful services, enabling us to stay in touch, go shopping and share information, that it's easy to get carried away. Users can lose track of the information given out online and that's when they run the risk of their personal information falling into the hands of identity fraudsters.
"The safest way to interact online is to reduce the amount of unnecessary personal data held and this means deleting registrations that you no longer use. We'd also recommend keeping an eye on your credit file, so you can spot when your details have been used."
Let's not make it easy for identity fraudsters
Professor Martin Gill, Director of Perpetuity, a spin-out company from the University of Leicester, said: "By obtaining somebody's personal details an identity fraudster can apply for credit cards, loans and other financial products in that person's name, and they may not find out for ages.
"The troubling thing is that fraudsters say that it is easy, and we can all play a part, by looking after our personal details, in making it more difficult for offenders."
Yet, whilst half of those questioned claimed to be concerned about possible security risks, nearly 40% claimed that they simply did not care if their details were stored all over the world wide web, potentially exposing themselves to identify theft, unsolicited spam and targeting by fraudsters.
Originally published by LISA SMYTH lsmyth@belfasttelegraph.co.uk.
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Story Source: Belfast Telegraph