Data sharing helps in the fight against fraud

Credit Management, Feb 2008 by Mitchley, Melanie

The loss of the two HMRC CDs containing 25 million child benefit recipient records last year generated a media furor and a widespread consumer panic. While the security of those named on the CDs appears not to have been compromised, the events of October 2007 have led consumers and businesses to question what action the government is taking in relation to combating organised crime.

Following the initial reading in January of this year, the Serious Crime Act has been granted assent. There are three key provisions relating to how public authorities can help in identifying fraud. Firstly, it can now disclose information as a member of a specified anti-fraud organisation for the purposes of preventing fraud. secondly, it can permit the disclosure of sensitive personal data to an anti-fraud organisation without the data subject's consent and thirdly, it can now also support the Audit Commission's efforts in relation to data matching exercises when looking for suspicious patterns.

Crucially, it is this joined up approach to data sharing amongst public bodies that will enable us to move forward in the fight against organised crime.

In addition to the Serious Crime Act, an increasing profile has been given to the Fraud Review. In a bid to prevent criminals using the personal details of the deceased, death registry information will become available in the second quarter of this year and will be limited to the prevention, detection, investigation or prosecution of offences.

Data sharing is possibly the most fundamental tool in preventing organised fraud. It is something that private sector organisations have done amongst themselves for many years and something that public sector will need to increasingly emulate if it is to crack down on fraud.

Melanie Mitchley, Director of Industry Relations, Callcredit