UK Homes receive 15 billion items of junk mail a year
Every year UK households are bombarded by a staggering 15 billion pieces of junk mail, equal to 626 unsolicited letters per British household, but the consequences are more than just simple irritation on the part of the recipient.
An estimated140,000 householders fall victim to identity fraud every year and many people are putting themselves at risk by not shredding or destroying junk mail according to new research by CPP. 80 per cent of the population admit to throwing their junk mail away without even taking it out of the envelope. All an opportunistic thief needs to cash in on our identities is a name and address.
Over a lifetime the average person will throw 49,000 letters in the bin. A spokesman from CPP said: “The results from this survey are terrifying – people don’t realise that by dropping 49,000 letters in the bin, they are effectively giving fraudsters 49,000 opportunities to steal their identity.”
The statistics reveal we are most at risk when moving house. 16 per cent of people fail to tell people when they move, with a quarter of us getting so wrapped up in the trials and tribulations of changing homes we forget to tell banks, utility companies and the DVLA for at least 2 weeks.
Almost a third of us naively rely on the new occupants of our old homes to forward our mail on to us. But the trust may be misplaced: less than half of new owners bother to send on any correspondence at all.
A spokesperson for CPP said: “Moving home is a key time for people to leave themselves vulnerable to fraudsters. Giving notification of change of address should be organised weeks in advance and should be put in equal priority to signing the deeds or booking the removal lorry. If it isn’t, the consequences could be very serious.”
