Crooks stealing your identity and plundering your bank accounts are, at last, on the run, says Financial Fraud Action UK, an industry body that collates financial crime figures. Fraud fell in 2011 and in the first half of 2012. But if the shocking story of Rod and Linda Twiss is anything to go by, there is still an awful long way to go. Their story raises worrying questions about the quality of controls at Halifax, whose parent group, Lloyds, operates more current accounts than any other bank in Britain.

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