The City of London Police and partners launched the ‘Not With My Name’ campaign to target the growing threat of identity crime in the UK.

One in four UK adults – 12.275 million people – are believed to have fallen victim to identity crime losing on average £1,200 each, with total losses to the UK adult population estimated to be £3.3 billion over recent years.

The campaign urged people to protect their personal information by creating safe passwords, protecting internet devices, rejecting unsolicited phone calls and emails, and safely storing and disposing of letters.

Online security – 1 in 3 do not regularly update their firewall or antivirus software;

Social media –1 in 3 do not limit the amount of information they share on social media;

Safe disposal of documents – 1 in 3 of people do not shred letters before throwing them away.

The ‘Not With My Name’ campaign shares tips to raise awareness and help people protect their identities across the country, with the campaign being supported by 35 local police forces and organisations that include Get Safe Online, Cifas, FFA UK, Age UK and Experian.

A key part of the campaign is being delivered across police force Facebook and Twitter accounts.

Individuals and businesses that have fallen victim to online fraud should report this to Action Fraud at www.actionfraud.police.uk.

The tips to protect yourself from identity fraud are:

Tip 1: Be careful who you give your personal information to and how

Tip 2: Make it as difficult as possible to crack your personal passwords

Tip 3: Always securely store  or destroy personal documents

Tip 4: Don’t respond to unsolicited phone calls or emails

Tip 5: Protect your personal devices

For further information, go to http://www.actionfraud.police.uk/resources-and-campaigns/not-with-my-name