Dishonesty and frauds are widespread in the UK, with nearly half of people admitting to forgery and one in ten to low-level identity fraud. Users are regularly overriding access control systems in a misguided effort to be helpful to colleagues.
Worryingly, with the prevalent terrorist threat, 10 per cent had misused ID access control systems by impersonating someone else or had assisted someone else to do so, and 32 per cent admitted conning their way past security personnel. An astonishing total of 21 per cent owned up to having used fake identity cards.
These are the key findings of the Dishonest Britain Study, undertaken by TSSI Systems, provider of fingerprint biometrics access control.
Danny Chapchal, executive chairman of the company which also provides document verification, and ID and smart cards says: “Dishonesty and fraud are shockingly widespread. Despite Britain’s terror alert, UK citizens’ irresponsible identity abuse is making it harder to tackle this threat.”
Stolen identity
Just over one in ten people (12 per cent) owned up to low level electronic identity fraud, by dishonestly impersonating someone else over email. A further 23 per cent admitted they had been tempted to do so. Seven per cent confessed to assuming another person’s identity through forging their signature on letters or cheques.
Security in the workplace was a worry for 27 per cent of people. The survey uncovered justification for this alarm: 14 per cent had spied on people entering PINs, passcodes and passwords and 10 per cent had misused ID and access control systems by impersonating someone else or had assisted someone else to do so. A further 35 per cent said they would think nothing of counteracting their workplace security by lending or borrowing a work pass if they or a colleague had forgotten theirs.
“It is clear that either through deliberate dishonesty, or in a misguided effort to be helpful to colleagues, end-users are regularly overriding access control systems”. Chapchal continued. “It is essential that companies implement systems to close these security weaknesses which could be exploited by criminal elements.”
Forgery is rife
45 per cent of people admitted to some kind of forgery. ID cards were by far the most popular item, with 18 per cent admitting to forging these. Other items included doctors’ notes (five per cent); fake letters on company letterhead (four per cent); reference letters (four per cent); travel tickets (two per cent); concert tickets (one per cent); and tickets for sporting events (one per cent).
A quarter of the Britons surveyed also confessed to exaggerating their educational qualifications to gain employment.
Recommendations
Based on the findings, TSSI made a number of broad recommendations for companies to improve their ID security including:
TSSI surveyed 1000 people between the ages of 18 and 60 at mainland stations in the UK in November of last year.
