Consumer
Advice: What is Identity Theft? |
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NC)—Identity theft
occurs when someone uses your personal information without your
knowledge or consent to commit a crime, such as fraud or theft. Once
they steal the information and manipulate it, identity thieves can
invade your personal and financial life. They can use stolen
identities to conduct spending sprees, open new bank accounts,
divert mail, apply for loans, credit cards, and social benefits,
rent apartments and even commit more serious crimes which, once
arrested, they pin on their new identity. |
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ID thieves get your
personal information by:
• Stealing personal and private
information from wallets, purses, mail, your home, vehicle,
computer, and Web sites you've visited or e-mails you've sent.
• Retrieving personal information in your garbage or
recycling bin by "dumpster diving".
• Posing as a creditor,
landlord or employer to get a copy of your credit report.
• Tampering with ATM and
terminals at stores, which enables thieves to read your debit or
credit card number and PIN.
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• Buying the information from
a dishonest employee working where personal and/or financial
information is stored.
• Removing mail from your mailbox.
• Searching public sources, such as newspapers (obituaries),
phone books, and records open to the public (professional
certifications).
For more
information on how to protect yourself from ID theft, and other
common consumer scams, visit ConsumerInformation.ca . It's a Web
site created by federal, provincial, territorial governments and
their partners specifically to provide Canadians with convenient,
one-stop access to hundreds of objective, reliable, current consumer
information sources.
About the
author:
News
Canada
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