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Avoid being a victim of a credit card clone

A couple of years ago I was the victim of identity theft. Someone managed to get enough information to be able to go on an eight hundred pound shopping spree at iTunes after cloning my debit card. I only found out when I went to a cash point and found out I was overdrawn.

It was a pain. Not only was I left without money, I also had to spend a few hours calling various places to explain what had happened and that my direct debit was about to bounce on them.

I was lucky - all that happened was my account was emptied. I have come across people who have had investments cashed without them knowing and loans taken out in their names. The consequences can be more than a few hours of phone calls - credit ratings can be left damaged for years, or unexpected creditors can turn up with court orders.

There are three simple steps you can take to actively manage your risk of being a victim:

Set up Internet access to your bank accounts, investments and utility companies, then turn off receipt of paper statements and bills;

Use Internet banking to check on your account at least weekly and look for transactions you can't explain - including unusual direct debits;

Check your credit file at least half yearly and watch for unexpected credit searches or loans you can't account for.

The moment you see something suspicious do something about it. Contact your bank, the utility company or investment company and alert them to the fact you suspect there is something wrong.

Unfortunately identity theft is a crime that is going to stay with us. Keeping an eye out means you stand a better chance of reducing the impact it could have on you.

Did you know... there are 3 main agencies that provide credit reference information to the credit industry: Experian, Equifax and Call Credit. While some of them would like you to pay 10 pounds a month for online access to their records, it only costs 2 pounds to ask for the information by post (and it is easier to understand!). More information is on the Information Commissioner's website.

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Do the test...

Transport for London are keen to get people onto their bikes (yes, even in this weather). Unfortunately being on a bicycle can be pretty dangerous, not necessarily for anything you do, but because other road users aren't always aware we're around.

To promote awareness, they've released a pretty effective advert. You'll find it after the jump.

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Spread the word

Street preachers continue to ply their trade and marketers use a presence on the pavement as a means to promote their service, product or charity.

In this photo feature we take a look at the people on our streets who spread the word.

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Kylie, dance teacher and fashion student

With an accent that blends the States, Caribbean and London and a smile that is infectious, Kylie is another Londoner exploring multiple talents. She teaches Salsa, she's studying for a Fashion degree and now she's modelling as well.

To see Kylie's gallery click here.

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The interest only mortgage - saviour or curse?

The UK Government wants lenders to take all steps possible to help people stay in their homes. It expects them to exhaust all avenues possible before resorting to court action and repossession. Amongst the ideas mooted have been moving people onto interest only mortgages. In theory this reduces the monthly repayment because the borrower doesn't repay any of the loan capital (the money borrowed to buy the house), only the interest on it.

Unfortunately this reflects the government's short-termist view. It may get people out of trouble today, but will build up problems for the future.

With an interest only mortgage the capital is not being repaid. That means that when you borrow 100,000 pounds to buy a house with a 25 year mortgage you will still owe the mortgage company 100,000 pounds 25 years from now. To repay that amount you will need to do one of two things - try and get another mortgage or invest money now in some sort of investment vehicle that you hope will give you 100,000 a quarter of a century from now.

Interest only mortgages have already been party to one financial scandal. In the 1990s Independent Financial Advisers (IFAs) appeared keen to recommend them alongside endowment policies. The theory was the endowment would give you a return much greater than the money you would owe on your mortgage. The practice was quite different, resulting in many people being left thousands, sometimes tens of thousands, of pounds short. It prompted a review with investment companies being required to proactively write to consumers and pay out millions in compensation.

They may seem attractive for getting over the current hump, but again problems can mount. Even assuming you're a sensible person and decide to get back to a repayment mortgage as soon as you are able you will have wasted months or years of money. Your monthly repayment has not reduced your debt and so you will be faced with starting from scratch.

Even if the interest only option is available it may not be accessible. The Financial Services Authority requires mortgage advisers to consider whether the mortgage is suitable. That will include looking at the ability to repay the capital when the mortgage comes to an end. The very people the government wants to help may be beyond help because of its own - sensible - regulation.

The idea of moving those in trouble onto interest only mortgages may be well intentioned. Unfortunately it is poorly thought out and will simply create a new wave of problems as the true financial impact of such a move is felt by those it was intended to help.

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David Stevenson, singer and songwriter

Another of London's unsigned and as yet unrecognised talents, David has a strong, folksy feel to his music. We took him to an underpass near Brent Cross and amongst the noise and car fumes managed to get some great shots of him. Click here to see them.

You can also find samples of David's music on his Myspace Page

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Your arse is on the web

The growth of digital cameras has fuelled a new obsession. Across the city are people armed with discrete cameras or camphones photographing you. They're not doing it for quality websites such as this, or for their own collection of tourist snapshots. They are doing it to fuel their own desires, and serve a growing market for voyeuristic images.

In the past few years there has been an explosion in websites dedicated to people - women generally - being photographed on the streets. The themes vary, from bottoms to cleavage, jeans to boots, but the aim is to the same - to capture attractive people on camera without them realising it.

For a few the thrill of the hunt is what matters. Chasing a pretty girl through a crowd or hanging around at the corner of a street is where the thrill lies. In the worst cases the devious aspects of finding new ways of getting a camera in to a changing room or a shot up a girl's skirt is the thrill. Whatever the focus, the hunt gives them a chance to pit their wits against that of their prey, while the subscribers who visit these sites can enjoy the results of that hunt from the safety of their own home.

Others find themselves inadvertent contributors to the craze. Trawling through YouTube, a service that allows subscribers to share videos, produced countless shots of people in compromising positions. Clearly taken on drunken nights out, as dares or jokes between friends, these videos show people performing acts they wouldn't normally do. But the videos are posted, shared, downloaded and viewed by an audience hungry for gratification.

Fortunately, even if you are captured on camera, it is unlikely that you will get to hear about it. But perhaps, one day, you might be trawling the internet and find a pair of legs that look familiar, or a clip of you walking down the street. Until then, ignorance is certainly bliss.

However, the camphone can be put to more sinister uses. Digital imaging is being used to feed office crushes, turning perhaps innocent attraction that might have faded in to infatuation and harassment. Photographs taken of colleagues are turning up on bulletin boards to be discussed. Text messages are being received from strangers with comments about dress, body shape, skin colour. Alternatively the same techniques can be applied to harassing individuals with the explicit intention of causing distress.

This form of harassment can be upsetting, perhaps more so than any other because it becomes easy to spread across the internet. Already there are cases both in the US and UK of victims suffering nervous breakdowns and other psychological problems because of being stalked or harassed by camera users.

While there are theoretical steps you can take to tackle the culprits, in reality your chances of success are fairly limited. Once your image is out on the Internet you are unlikely to ever be able to remove all copies of it. Someone - somewhere - will keep a copy in their private collection.

If you do decide to try and limit the damage you can contact the sites where you know the image or video is. The professional sharing sites such as Yahoo! Groups, MySpace, Flickr and YouTube all operate policies which prohibit the sharing of illegal material, so you should be able to get it removed along with any discussion or comment quite quickly.

Sites which sell subscriptions may prove more problematic. Many will hide behind the argument that the photographer is the copyright holder, you were in a public place and therefore bad luck. In the UK this is not the case. The photographer does hold the copyright and has a right to take a picture of you for their own "personal" purposes. However, when those images are shared for the purposes of sexual gratification you become a victim of a crime. Agreements across the EU now make it easier to get such sites shut down - but once they're down they have a habit of springing back up in other forms.

You also have to be firm with authorities and employers. The police are aware of this form of harassment, but you need to ensure they take your case seriously. In all likelihood unless you are harmed, or there is a pattern of behaviour from the "photographer" giving cause for concern it is unlikely anything will happen, but it is worth making the point and arguing for a crime reference number (particularly if you're minded to get an ISP to shut a site).

Employers are becoming aware of digital camera abuse, but many still view it as a bit of harmless fun. If you do make a complaint focus on the harassment rather than trying to make a deal out of the use of a camera phone.

Prevention is better than cure, but there isn't a lot that can be done to protect yourself. Put simply, if someone finds you presses their buttons they'll photograph you. As long as you stay aware of what's going on around you, don't agree to be filmed as a dare and deal promptly with anything that does arise you'll feel better. But don't take it to an extreme - don't get wound up because, frankly, these things happen.

When you walk down the street there will be people checking you out and finding themselves attracted to you. What the digital camera and the camphone has done is made it easier for those with particular fetishes or needs to fuel them. Don't let it wind you up, don't let it get to you.


Thanks to the Home Office for information on the legal aspects of digital voyeurism.

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Jamie Oon, actress and dancer

A star of low-budget horror films and stage plays, Jamie's energy is infectious. When we photographed her in Greenwich it was cold and autumnal, yet she managed to bring the place alive. That and she couldn't stand still.

To see Jamie's gallery click here

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Older Entries

Published on Tuesday, 18 November 2008

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Where Next?

Avoid being a victim of a credit card clone
Having your credit or debit card cloned can leave you thousands of pounds out of pocket. Fortunately there are some relatively easy steps you can take to reduce your risk.

Do the test...
The Do The Test campaign aims to promote awareness of cyclists in London

Spread the word
In the age of the Internet there is still a place for standing on street corners and shouting.

Kylie, dance teacher and fashion student
Kylie is a dancer, a fashion student and now a model

The interest only mortgage - saviour or curse?
An interest only mortgage may keep you in your home today. But government plans are fraught with dangers that will only become apparent decades from now.

David Stevenson, singer and songwriter
A talented singer and songwriter, David has even found his way onto the stage at Glastonbury

Your arse is on the web
The explosion in digital photography has created adult superstars out of unwitting citizens. Read how - and what you can do about it.


There's more on the Smoke blog

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Kylie Dance teacher and fashion student

Hot Topics

Avoid being the victim of a credit card clone.
The interest only mortgage - saviour or curse?
David Stevenson, singer and songwriter

What we're listening to

All Hell is Breaking Loose - (Video) pounding drum and bass with a neat, fun video to boot
Don Abandons Alice - Starts slow and builds to a crescendo - from the 28 Weeks Later soundtrack
Take Back the City - Classic pop from Snow Patrol
Backyard - Modern take on the Blues
Black Swan - First heard on the Scanner Darkly soundtrack. Downbeat and wonderful

The Smoke Relaunched

The Smoke relaunched on Sunday 16th November 2008. Over the coming weeks we'll be adding a lot of content quite quickly to bring it back up to speed before reverting to our usual weekly updates.

If you'd like to contribute please get in touch.

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