Summary and Popularity of Site
This is another website from the UK government that gives advice on identity theft including ways to protect yourself. It is backed by all of the UK’s civil services including the London Metropolitan Police, the Home Office and the Royal Mail. The site is not well viewed, it is ranked outside the top 1.5 million most viewed sites in the world and is well outside the top 100,000 in the UK*.
Content
The homepage is black with an attempt at trendy font which comes off as unnecessary. Visitors are given the choice of two links: Protect yourself as a consumer and protect yourself as a business. The consumer page has a grave warning about identity theft with information about protecting yourself amongst the options on the left. You cannot get into the business section unless you are registered which ironically involves you giving the site your personal information.
The whole site is intended to look grim, the black background, coupled with images of haunted looking people gives the impression of being lost souls which is precisely the message they are trying to convey. Without your identity you are a non-entity, a ghost in the eyes of society. If a thief gets hold of your details they can use them to commit crimes and it could be very hard for you to repair the damage. In fact, you may have great difficulty getting a credit card or mortgage in the future.
Positives and Summary
The information is pretty easy to access as all pieces are clearly marked. When you click on one of the items, you will be met with another list of choices. For example, when you look for information on protecting yourself there are sections on keeping all your cards secure and keeping your PIN numbers safe and so on.
As this site is designed to help UK citizens to avoid identity theft and is therefore meant to be easily understandable, the articles are all written in plain English and are well divided into simple to understand sections. This site provides a valuable service for people and considering the increase in this type of crime, it would be prudent to find out how you can avoid being next on the identity thieves list.
