IDENTITY THEFT

When someone uses personal information such as your name, social insurance number (SIN), credit card number or other identifying information without your knowledge or permission, it is identity theft and it is a crime. Identity fraud has become one of the fastest growing crime in Canada with 1 in 15 Canadian having be victimised, but there are ways to protect your-self.


Guard Your Personal Information: To minimize your risk of becoming a victim of identity theft, manage your personal information wisely and cautiously:

  • When someone asks for information, especially identification, ask why they need it and what they will use it for.
  • Shred anything with personal or financial information such as credit card receipts, copies of credit applications, insurance. forms, cheques, financial statements and old income tax returns.
  • Cut up expired and unused credit cards (the card may have expired, but the number could still be used).
  • Carry only the identification and credit card(s) you will need that day (you rarely need to carry your birth certificate, SIN card or passport).
  • Don't fill in forms for contests, rebates or draws that ask for more information than you are prepared to give.
  • Lock your household mailbox if possible.
  • If you are going to be away, arrange for a trusted neighbor to pick up your mail (Note: You can also go to your local post office (with identification) and ask for Canada Post's hold mail service. There will be a charge for this service.).
  • Use complex passwords on your credit card, financial and other accounts rather than easily available information like your mother's maiden name, your birth date, parts of your phone number or a series of consecutive numbers.
  • Don't leave personal information lying around at home, in your vehicle or at work.
  • Find out how your employer ensures your personal information remains private, how they store and dispose of it and who can see it.
  • Don't give personal information to anyone who phones or e-mails you unless you know who they are (identity thieves may pose as representatives of financial institutions, Internet service providers or government agencies to get you to reveal identifying information).
  • Don't put more than your name and address on your personal cheques.
  • Make sure unused vehicle license plates are not available for anyone else to use (you can return expired or unused Alberta plates to any registry agent).
  • Destroy your old vehicle registration certificate when you get your new one.

Keep your information safe

  • Use a password that is a combination of letters (upper and lower case), numbers and symbols and would be difficult to guess.
  • Don't use an automatic log-in feature that saves your user name and password (while this may save time when you log in or enter a site, it's a gold mine for a hacker).
  • Use a firewall program, especially if you have a high-speed Internet connection that connects your computer to the Internet 24 hours a day whether it is switched on or off (the firewall stops uninvited visitors from getting access to information stored on your computer).
  • Add virus protection software and update it regularly (viruses can instruct your computer to send information to other systems and you may not know it).
  • Be careful what e-mail you open. E-mails from strangers could contain viruses or programs to hijack your computer.
  • Don't send personal or confidential information over e-mail (e-mail messages aren't secure).
  • Make sure deleted information has actually been deleted from your computer hard drive before you sell, recycle or dispose of your computer (Note: Even though you've deleted files from folders, they may still be on the computer's hard drive where they may be easily retrieved. Use a wipe utility program to overwrite the entire hard drive to make the files unrecoverable.).
  • Shop and bank safely online (before giving your credit card number or other financial information to a business, make sure the merchant has a secure transaction system).
  • Most Internet browsers indicate when you are using a secure Internet link (to check to see if a website is secure, look for a website address that starts with https: or an icon - often a lock or an unbroken key - at the bottom of the screen).
  • Use a credit card rather than a debit card to make purchases (set aside one credit card with a low limit for Internet buying).

NOTE: If you are victim of identity theft, you should immediately take some preliminary steps to prevent further crime from happening. Please click on Prevention menu to report crime and further precautions.