Identity Theft - The Real Cause
At this time the country was seeing a massive growth in the smuggling of illegal drugs. Before the war, the use of cannabis and cocaine was legal but limited to the middle and upper classes. After the war the use of these drugs was banned and for a while the problem seemed to go away. In the sixties, the use of recreational drugs started to become widespread among the youth of the day and the suppliers of these illegal drugs needed to legitimise the proceeds of their trade. They were able to open bogus bank accounts very easily.
For a while there seemed little that the Police could do about this growth industry so the Government of the day introduced legislation to try to combat the massive problem of money laundering. With the growing threat from terrorism, the laws were tightened further to the point where it became extremely hard to create a false identity and open a bank account. It is these restrictions that we all have to accept when we want to use the financial services available. A good example here is when a bank and its staff know us, yet we have to again prove our identity when we wish to open another account.
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