It has been revealed in a recent report that thousands of Brits are being chased for loans that they never took out in the first place. The reports claim that at least five thousand people in the UK are being chased by debt collectors who are working on behalf of a payday loan firm. However, they are being pursued for money that they never borrowed according to officials.

It is thought by police authorities that this is linked to identity theft, and that the loans were actually taken out by fraudsters that were using the personal details of the Brits that are now getting the blame. The company that is sending the debt collectors to pursue these people is Help Loan, which is based in Finland. Help Loan claims that it has cost at least £1.5 million as a result of this fraud.

Help Loan is now said to have taken steps to increase security, due to the ease with which the fraudsters managed to take out loans using others’ details. The company only started trading in the UK earlier this year, and offers working consumers short term loans of between £50 and £300, which must be repaid within twenty eight days and with very high rates of interest.

One of the Brits that has been pursued for a loan that was never taken out said that the company needs to improve its verification processes to try and reduce the risk of this sort of fraud. She said she had received a demand for repayment of a loan, and when she checked with the company they had her correct date of birth but had bank details that were not hers.

She said: “They need to make their whole site a lot more secure and be sure that the person who is applying for the loan is the person they say they are.”