mark f. There seem to be a hit on people over the last few days. They may have your name but maybe not full name and they def have your address , but they try and confirm this with you ! Do not give them any info ,or best not even reply to the email you received . They need more than this to scam you .The less info someone has on you the less likely you will be scammed . Common sense really ,but even clever people can fall in a trap.

regards Mark!

Tim E. I've heard from a few of my friends about this, and both the US and UK sites of this scam include your home address in the e-mail to include authenticity.

There are ways companies can get hold of this legally - but it isn't usually linked to your e-mail address. It is likely that a company your details are registered with has been subject to data theft, or has sold on data when you didn't tick a box to say they weren't allowed to.

If you are particularly concerned about people trying to use your details for fraud, you can register with CIFAS for their "Protective Registration Service" - which is free and means that any financial business who credit checks you gets a little flag saying that they should make extra checks. It would mean that if you genuinely apply for any form of credit, you would be asked for extra identity documents, which can be inconvenient, but it also can provide people with peace of mind.

CIFAS has a website here: http://www.cifas.org.uk which explains how to do so - unfortunately they do charge for the service. :-(