TrustMeSecurity.com

Identity theft is a crime that can leave its victims financially and emotionally devastated. The frustration level involved in clearing up identity theft is enormous.

The RCMP website defines identity theft as follows:

Identity theft involves stealing, misrepresenting or hijacking the identity of another person or business.

In a former life, I worked in the fraud department of one of the largest credit reporting agencies in North America. I spent a great deal of time working with folks whose identities had been compromised. Most people weren’t even aware that their identity had been hijacked until it affected their day to day life in some way – usually when they were applying for credit for either a mortgage or a vehicle.

The development of internet communication, most particularly via email, has allowed consumers and vendors to reach each other more easily. It has also provided us with the opportunity to share our personal information.

Once upon a time, fishing was the process of catching food and was spelled with an “f.” Nowadays, “phishing” catches information; more particularly personal information like your credit card number, your social insurance number and other information that has no business being spread across the internet. For more information on phishing, check out the National Consumers League’s Internet Fraud Watch site.

At our recent open house, our fabulous developers showed our guests what phishing was all about. They demonstrated how easy it really was for someone to download a sniffer program from the internet and to then ask it to find specific information. I know that more than one of our guests was shocked at the ease with which these programs allow gathering what we consider to be private communication.

Have you shopped on eBay? Have you checked out Kijiji? These are wonderful sites. They allow us to find things we’re looking for. However, they also allow us to contact people we don’t know who want to part us from our hard earned money. We generally contact these folks by email for specifics about the products we’re interested in buying. Hopefully, if you’re visiting these wonderful sites, you’re also taking note of the warnings posted about providing your personal information.

One would think that having to post a notice advising consumers not to share their personal information would be as much of an insult to an intelligent person as having to put a notice on coffee cups stating that the contents are hot. (Well, duh!!) Unfortunately, it seems that even though the notices are there, people are still burning their tongues and they’re still providing personal information to strangers; something as simple as providing your phone number can open the door to a stranger who wants to find you.

In Canada, there are two main credit reporting agencies, Trans Union and Equifax. In the US, there are three, Equifax, Trans Union and Experian. Each of these agencies provides information related to credit reports, credit scoring and identity theft on their websites. The smart consumer will contact each of the relevant agencies and request a copy of their credit report at least once a year and verify the information contained therein.

Some tips for preventing ID theft:

• Keep your personal information private. Do not disclose your address, telephone number, Social Insurance Number (SIN) or email address unless you know who is collecting the information, why they are collecting it and how they plan to use it. Never disclose your passwords. No legitimate business will ever ask you to disclose your password.
• Only provide personal information over the Internet when you know that the communication channel is secure.
• Clear the cache of your browser after visiting secure sites. This will ensure that nobody else can view any confidential information you may have transmitted.
• Change your password regularly, use hard-to-guess passwords and never share your password with anyone.
• Always check your credit card and bank statements as soon as they arrive to ensure all charges are correct. Look for extra or missing transactions and report any discrepancies immediately.
• If you think you’ve given credit card or banking information to a fraudulent site, immediately notify your credit card company and/or financial institution.

Remember, while the majority of people are honest, there are still those few out there who are not. You need to be proactive in protecting yourself and your credit rating. Start by being smart.

Take care and be safe.