Identity theft

In message , Stephen Burke writes

A lot of seemingly sound advice but some of little practical value. I was a victim of identity fraud recently. A chap in Devices sold a car for cash to an individual who gave my name and address for the transfer of ownership form which was duly completed by the seller and returned to vehicle licensing. Thus, according to the DVLC's records I became the owner of a car of which I had no knowledge until Wiltshire Police came a-knocking, wondering why I was filling up with petrol at filling stations on their patch and Somerset's patch and nipping off without paying.

My identity had been filched but name and address only. The police said that the scam was quite widespread -- that is rogues paying cash for cheap cars with decent chunk of MOT on them, running them for year with no insurance, getting free petrol in the meantime, and dumping them after twelve months. Owners selling cars are not required by law to check the veracity of ID information they are given.

How the hell do I conceal my name and address from the cruel, harsh world? It's everywhere!

On another daft note, I recently received together with VAT Notes No. 4

2003, Money Laundering Rules effective from 1 March 2004 which, in the case of cash transactions of 15K euros or more, requires traders to "ask your customer for evidence of their identity and keep a record of the evidence they supplied".

Weird. The rules don't specify the type of evidence required nor do they specify that the evidence of identity should be verified! The notes go on to whibble about how this is "an important part of the attack on organised crime and terrorism".

So that's all right, then.