Best and Unfairest

Forgot to mention: I loved the story about the lucky punter who pocketed £180,000 from John Terry’s penalty miss when betting on Manchester United’s win over Chelsea.

Luck-challenged is how my fellow company directors may feel, in comparison, after reading a BBC News report which lists London-based business owners aged between 26 and 45 and earning over £50,000 as the most likely victims of mail-related identity theft.

Welcome to the scary new world of forwarding address fraud – a growing scam, according to our colleagues at Experian, whereby mail can be redirected without consent and intercepted by fraudsters.

This unwelcome news coincides with the release of The REaD Group’s inaugural UK Junk Mail League Table. In our nationwide survey we found that the Top Five most junk mailed regions over the past twelve months are: (1) South East (527 million items); (2) London (485 million items); (3) North West (441 million items); (4) East (357 million items); and (5) West Midlands (344 million items).

So keep your personal details secure, folks. I’ve mentioned this before, but suggested tips better controlling junk mail include:

• Registering with a junk mail control service such as www.itsmypost.com.
• Registering a deceased loved one or friend with www.thebereavementregister.org.uk to prevent junk mail being sent after their death.
• Tearing off and destroying the name and address label on any junk mail before shredding, recycling or (if possible) composting the rest – this to prevent personal information from falling into the wrong hands.