CIFAS is a system for preventing fraud and protecting your personal details. Member organisations of CIFAS (which include the majority of financial organisations in the UK) can exchange information regarding consumer applications for services or products they offer which they believe may be of a fraudulent nature. Once a fraud has been identified by a CIFAS member organisation, a warning is placed against the address linked to the application or account in question. The warning will show the name used at application level, but does not necessarily mean that the name stated is involved in the fraud, as potential fraudsters often use several different names, whether false or genuine. The CIFAS warning will appear on the file of any individual who has a link with the address used, and will be seen by all member organisations at application level if they check that address in future. A warning on your file does not mean that you are being accused of fraud, or that your address has been blacklisted. It merely ensures that any application for credit is more carefully examined where a CIFAS warning is present, and will not result in an automatic refusal of the application in question.



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