Identity Tsar

MPs are calling for an identity fraud tsar to be appointed.

An “identity fraud tsar” should be appointed to oversee attempts to tackle the crime, a group of MPs has said.

The All Party Group on Identity Fraud said a tsar was needed to co-ordinate the work being done by the government, police and private sector.

Really? While there are problems in life that may be solved by throwing money at them, I’m not convinced that this is one of them. And, let’s remember, it is our money they are throwing.

How likely is this person (and why are they tsars all of a sudden?) to be able to coordinate government, police and the private sector? What powers will the post have to enable sufficient clout? And, frankly, do we need someone with that level of authority to achieve what can be better achieved with greater awareness on the part of consumers? Also, let’s be clear what we are talking about, too. Government is keen to talk about credit card theft as if it was identity theft. It is not. Credit card theft is the act of stealing people’s money; identity theft involves taking on someone else’s identity for the purposes of obtaining money, property, work or whatever the thief decides to take; they take on their victim’s persona and pose as their victim in order to carry out their fraud on an ongoing basis – this is not simple credit card theft and is much less prolific. Conflating the two is fraudulent and government does this for its own purposes; to defraud the consumer into supporting its insidious “solution” – identity cards and the national identity register that lurks beneath the surface. Government wants to manage us and manage our identities and scare stories such as this:

Last year more than 170,000 cases of identity fraud were identified.

And this blatant lie:

The crime costs the economy about £1.7bn a year, according to government estimates, with 171,488 cases coming to light in the UK during 2006.

Are being trotted out with tiresome regularity to confuse and confound the voter into believing that the problem is worse than it is, that “something must be done” even if that something is worse than the problem and, of course, that government; good old nanny; is the one to come to our rescue.

Don’t get me wrong; this type of theft is a serious problem. It is, however a problem that consumers can do much to help prevent by being careful with personal information, by avoiding those tempting emails asking for banking information, and by diligent use of a shredder.

What we don’t need is another overpaid and fatuous civil servant or politician swanning about and achieving bugger-all other than providing government with the excuse it needs to protect us from ourselves.