Press releases

MEDIA STATEMENT

21 October 2009

New Zealanders willingness to undergo fingerprint and eye scans to protect themselves from identity theft doesn’t surprise CIGNA Life Insurance, a leading insurance company which recently introduced CIGNA Identity Theft Insurance.

Since launching its product and a dedicated website (cignaidtheft.co.nz) in September, the company has received more than 3000 website hits.

Results from the Unisys Security Index survey issued today (21 October 2009) showed that more than half of participants fear identity theft, a number corroborated by CIGNA’s own ‘State of the Nation’ 2008 survey, Mark Kenning, National Contact Centre Manager at CIGNA says.

“Many Kiwis don’t know how to protect themselves from this type of crime nor what to do if it happens to them. It is not surprising that they think extreme measures such as fingerprinting or iris scans can help.

“We agree that prevention is the best approach. But from overseas data, it appears that it is going to take more than hi tech scanning to stop this fast growing crime,” Kenning says.

CIGNA recommends six simple steps to protect yourself from ID Theft:

• Keep a close eye on your credit cards and passport when using them
• Report missing credit cards or important documents as soon as they are lost
• Shred your old credit card receipts and statements, and cut your old credit cards
• Avoid using mail to send or receive financial documents
• Don’t share personal information online unless the website is secure
• Choose passwords that are hard to guess and use separate ones for your banking

For more information about CIGNA or for interview requests, contact:

Aimee Hare
Mango Communications
09 374 5485
021 582 291
aimeeh@thisismango.co.nz