Revealed: The cash-for-fake-ID scandal at the heart of (UK) Government

13 May 2006

An internal investigation at the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has found that civil servants are colluding with organised criminals to steal personal identities on "an industrial scale".

Ministers have been privately warned that the investigation will show that hundreds of thousands of stolen personal details have been ripped off from official databases, often with inside help. Key personal details such as national insurance numbers can be used to commit benefit fraud, set up false bank accounts and obtain official documents such as passports.

The ID theft from DWP and Revenue and Customs databases is currently the subject of an internal investigation, codenamed Trident, carried out in conjunction with the Government's official data-protection watchdog.

One government figure said: "We have been told that DWP staff have been colluding with organised criminals to commit identity theft on an industrial scale. It is far wider than just tax credits and reaches right across Whitehall."

A minister confirmed that the issue was causing panic in the office of John Hutton, the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions and a key ally of Tony Blair. "It's clear it's pretty serious," she said.


http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/article447792.ece


Wow. How much you want to bet this also happened in the US?

There's been many, many pushes towards a national ID system. Only last week yet more talk of such a system - using it for voter rolls, which sure as hell can't be done with a "voluntary" system. And now this. This!

It's hugely, awesomely damaging to a long-term aspiration of many ministers and bureaucrats.