Member of Parliament for West Ham, Lyn Brown, has urged constituents not to hand their identity over on a plate to fraudsters.

The calls come at the beginning of the fourth annual National Identity Fraud Prevention Week, happening from 6^th–11^th October and aims to raise awareness of the dangers of identity fraud and inform the public and businesses on the steps they could and should be taking to protect themselves from identity fraud.

This awareness drive has been put in place by an expert group of public and private sector partners, and is, along with Lyn Brown MP, being supported by the BBC presenter Adrian Chiles who is fronting this year’s campaign. The drive has also received backing from many organisations including Royal Mail, the Federation of Small Businesses, the Metropolitan Police, and the Home Office’s Identity and Passport Service.

Government figures show that identity fraud costs the economy more than £1 billion annually – and independent pan-European market research, commissioned by Fellowes for National Identity Fraud Prevention Week, reveals that Britain suffers one of the region’s highest rates of identity fraud. The survey revealed that 4.3million adults have already fallen victim.

Thanks to ongoing public awareness drives, such as National Identity Fraud Prevention Week, the UK boasts the highest awareness rates – 99% of adults surveyed claimed to be aware of identity fraud and 95% realise that we are all at risk.

However, 64% of British adults do not understand how best they can protect themselves against identity fraud, indicating that yet more needs to be done to communicate best practice in the home and work environment and encourage the public to take this advice – protecting themselves and lessening the impact of identity fraud upon the economy.

The Member of Parliament for West Ham has welcomed the start of this year’s National Identity Fraud Prevention Week, commenting: “I firmly support the work of all the partners who have come together to raise awareness of the very real problem of identify fraud both in London and across the UK.

“I join with other MPs and National Identity Fraud Prevention Week in encouraging individuals and business to stop taking chances with their identity, and to start getting identity fraud wise. You wouldn’t leave your car or house unlocked - in the same way we all have a responsibility to protect our personal details.”