Anyone know more about this BT "uk identity verification" scheme?

[Ian Miller]

At 9:45 +0000 6/3/03, Ken Brown wrote:
>The utility bill establishes a reputation. And
>that's all the bank care about really.
>
No.  A utility bill meets the new anti-money-laundering regulations and
they will go through the motions required by those regulations to avoid
prosecution.

I have had to go through this rigmarole three times already this year.
They require a "Proof of Address" and a "Proof of Identity".

The "Proof of Identity" may be:-
 - Building Society, Bank Credit, Store Card or Mortgage Statement
 - A letter from a Public Bodies (the examples suggest they mean government
body)
 - Personal Reference from Doctor, Dentist or School

The "Proof of Address" may be:-
 - Any of the document valid as "Proof of Identity" but you cannot
   use one document as both.
 - A utility bill
 - Inland Revenue Notice of Code or Tax demand

So all you need do to set up a fraudulent identity for money laundering
purposes is rent a room in a house and send letters to two different
government offices which you can reasonably expect a reply.  (e.g. A formal
objection to a planning application and requesting information on
registering for VAT.)  With the two replies you can "prove" the existence
and address of the fake identity.

In practice, it is an onerous bit of bureaucracy that will scarcely slow
down the bad guys at all.  I would be interested to know just how much this
is actually costing us.  This must be very significantly increasing the
cost to banks of opening accounts, which they presumably will be passing on
to customers in increased charges.  It must have wasted at least half a day
of my time.

Ian

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