While the news that the HMR&C have “lost” two CDs holding the private and banking details of about 25 million people in the UK has been headline news for the last 24 hours, is your bank account really at risk? Will you become the victim of ID theft?

The sad fact is that no matter how hard the government try to convince people that there is no risk, there is a REAL risk to you from a number of different angles. 

Firstly there is the possibility that someone may actually have access to your bank details, your names and address, your previous addresses and your previous names.   Using this information it is not hard to redirect bank statements, cheque books and the like to a new address.

Secondly, there is a very definite threat of ID theft for both the adults on the discs and the children, with full names, addresses, dates of birth and national insurance numbers all present on the CDs which have gone missing.  This is a fraudsters dream, giving them more than enough information to apply for loans on your behalf, credit cards and many other financial liabilities – liabilities that you will be left with.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer stated yesterday that anyone found to have lost out due to this information falling into the wrong hands will receive full cover under the Banking Code.  But why on earth should the Banking Code be expected to cover what are in reality the short comings of the government? Whatever happens, if any compensation is paid out it will come out of the public purse in some way.  Forget those promises to be reimbursed; it is actually your own money they would use to do this!

While the authorities claim that the information does not seem to have fallen into the wrong hands as yet, you can bet your last dollar that each and every gang of crooks up and down the country will be looking for these discs, and the information held on them – something which could be worth millions of pounds in the right hands.  This is a problem which has possible repercussions many many months into the future – and you will only find out when it is too late!