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Rick Bacon, CEO of iProfile:

"People need to be aware of the dangers of posting personal information online. As people wise up to shredding their utility bills and bank statements, they should consider other material that fraudsters can use to steal their personal identity. The public need to treat any documents that contain personal information with care - including their CV. We hope this research highlights the dangers and gets people thinking about using the secure tools that are available on the internet to protect themselves."

Further reading
Everything you need to know about being safe online, from protecting your computer to risk free online shopping, check out Get Safe online

Interested in knowing what ID theft is and how it happens? Read more on this subject on the Met Police website

Advice on how to be safe online

The threat of ID theft

ID fraud is one of the most serious issues facing people today. 100,000 people in the UK are victims of ID theft each year and anecdotal evidence suggests that one of the ways that criminals acquire people's personal details is by stealing their CV information. It costs the economy over £1.3 billion per annum.

All of the information below, commonly found in your CV, can help the identity fraudster:-

  • Full name
  • Marital Status
  • Place of Birth
  • Driving Licence Status
  • Number of dependents and ages
  • Date of Birth
  • Current Address
  • Email address
  • Phone numbers
  • Employment History including referees and current employer
  • Schools / educational establishments attended
  • Personal information such as hobbies and interests

All the information listed could be very useful to an Identity fraudster in helping them build a picture of the individual they are targeting

General advice of protecting yourself against ID theft when job hunting:

  • Be wary if the email address does not contain the name of the company but just the name of a service provider.

  • Take extra care when accessing personal information when using public computers, such as those in internet cafes, or when using a laptop in a WiFi hotspot.

  • Shred or destroy old copies of your CV.

  • Rather than using a traditional CV, think about using an iProfile - a free online CV service that helps safeguard your personal details.

  • Use a phone masking service to protect your personal number. With an iProfile you get phone masking, and it costs you nothing.

Think about who you share your career information with, make sure they are a real business and when posting information to the web use an Internet Safe CV:

  • Do not include your date of birth
  • Do not include your marital status
  • Do not include your place of birth
  • Only give your first and last name
  • Use a telephone masking service so you don't publish your private phone numbers

Think about the information a potential employer needs to find your details, you can share your full CV at a later stage when you are comfortable with the identity of the company or person you are sharing the information with.

Online CV