Students living in close quarters, often with communal mailboxes or pigeonholes, are “vulnerable” to fraudsters who lift vital personal banking information from correspondence with financial providers, consumer affairs manager James Jones warned.

They are also at increased risk because their address changes frequently as they move into new accommodation.

With 35 per cent of identity fraud victims contacting Experian just after relocating to a new address, moving home is “a very dangerous time”, Mr Jones explained.

He advised students: “Make sure that, when you move, you tell all of the organisations that you have a relationship with … so that they don’t send your statements to your old address.”

“Anything, as long as it’s got some information on about you, is potentially useful” to fraudsters.

But simple identity protection measures such as checking statements regularly and using a home address for financial correspondence help keep students’ money safe.

Find out more about identity fraud and Experian

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