"In South Africa, identity fraud and theft is becoming increasingly sophisticated with hackers accessing personal details of their victims over the internet," said spokesperson Peter Olyott.

"Often fraud is detected only if a customer reviews his credit card statement or needs to travel outside the country and finds his passport is missing.

"With cellphone banking on the rise, concomitant risk rises exponentially," said Olyott, who heads the group's research and development division, Cre8.

Major financial implications

Identity theft and identity fraud involved the wrongful use of personal information by someone posing as that person for fraudulent purposes.

It could have major financial ramifications for victims, said Olyott.

"The average discovery time of identity theft is over 14 months and people whose identities have been stolen often spend many more months and thousands of rands reinstating their good name and credit record."

The case of a 29-year-old alleged fraudster who claimed to have been a dentist, cellphone executive, American multimillionaire and a doctor was an example of the extent and danger of identity theft, Ina van der Merwe chief executive of international background screening company Kroll said earlier this year.

"Hardly a day passes that we don't come across individuals with forged qualifications, false (identity documents) and bogus passports," she said.

Identity theft is 'so easy'

"The better the credit rating of an individual, the greater the chances that they are going to become the targets of syndicates who use their identities to defraud business(es), both in South Africa and internationally."

Consumer Profile Bureau managing director Fred Steffers said identity theft had become the white collar crime of choice because it was so easy.

"It is common knowledge that it is possible to procure a fraudulent ID book from the Department of Home Affairs thanks to widespread corruption.

"Armed with the identity number of someone with a good credit history, it is a simple matter to open numerous accounts in that person's name and to then go on a spending spree," he said.

"The overwhelming majority of traders who are losing out are small businesses who more often than not cannot afford the losses and frequently go belly-up as a result of fraud."

"With the advent of online credit checks, it is nothing less than irresponsible for a trader to grant credit without first verifying the credit worthiness of the client," he said.

Sapa