General Enquiries:
Great Yarmouth Borough Council
Town Hall
Hall Plain
Great Yarmouth.
NR30 2QF.

Tel:
01493 856100

E-mail:
enquiries@great-yarmouth.gov.uk

PR 293

For Immediate Release

28 November 2006

Recent stories in the Press and media have centred on one of the newest crimes to hit the ordinary man in the street - identity theft.

Banks have been accused of putting customers at risk by carelessly disposing of their details without taking proper precautions.

In Great Yarmouth it is the residents themselves who are giving information away free - which could lead to their own downfall.

Identity theft occurs when information including name and address are stolen by another person, who then uses it to set up false accounts to buy goods and leaves the innocent victim with the bill - even the risk of a bad credit rating which will stop them gaining credit themselves when they need it.

But citizens fly-tipping in Great Yarmouth seem happy to leave just such information dumped in the streets.

A sharp-eyed street cleaner spotted utility bills and invoices for properties in Harley Road very recently. They carried full address details and the name of the people concerned.

“Our sweeper was working in the Harley and Walpole Road area when he picked up the bags and loose rubbish which soon identified some of the culprits who had dumped rubbish,” said GYB Services director Graham Jermyn.

“We will be approaching them to warn them of the consequences of fly-tipping and returning their property. But it also set us thinking about how people are leaving themselves open to all kinds of crime.

“We have heard a great deal in the news recently about identity theft. But these people are leaving themselves open to fraud as utility bills are often the proof that retailers ask for to prove that a person has a current address.

“The bills were dated October 2006, so anyone laying their hands on them had up-to-date information.

“By fly-tipping people not only add to everyone’s Council Tax bills, they could be literally throwing their own money away.”

For further information call GYB Services Director Graham Jermyn on 01493 846465.

Picture Caption: GYB Services operative Kelvin London with the amount of rubbish collected in just one session of street cleaning in the Harley and Walpole Road area.



Issued by:
Liz Dann
Press Officer
Great Yarmouth Borough Council
01493 846513