Prevent identity theft: Protect your information!
According to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre, 20,611 Canadians were victims of identity fraud in 2014, resulting in over $10M in financial loss. Even if it’s impossible to completely protect ourselves against this particular crime, we can minimize the risks by protecting our personal information. The Assurances Groupe Vezina team offers the following explanations and advice.
What is identity theft?
Identity theft means obtaining, possessing or using personal information of another person without authorization in order to create fake identity or borrow an existing identity for criminal purposes.
How can you protect your information to prevent identity theft?
- Never give out your Social Insurance Number (SIN) except when necessary (employment or income tax reports)
- Never give out any personal information by telephone, by email or online unless you initiated the contact
- Immediately report any loss or theft of a credit or debit card
- Shred any document containing your personal information
- Monitor your account statements for unauthorized transactions
- Destroy any written copies of your personal identification numbers (PIN)
- Check your credit rating once a year to ensure that there have not been any unauthorized transactions that you were unaware of
- Change your passwords frequently, and do not use addresses, dates of birth or pet names for your passwords
How do you know if your identity has been stolen and what can you do?
Any unusual activity in your accounts can be a sign of identity theft that should be investigated: inexplicable purchases listed on your statements, invoices for unknown accounts, not receiving your bank or credit card statements or calls from a collection agency claiming a debt unknown to you are just some examples.
If your identity is stolen:
- Call your financial institutions and local police department immediately
- Place a fraud alert in your credit rating file by calling Equifax at 1 866 465-7166 and Trans Union at 1 877 713-3393
- Replace your identity cards (health insurance card, driver’s licence and SIN)
Your home insurance may include identity theft coverage
Ask your broker if it does. This coverage could take care of the fees and measures necessary for re-establishing your identity and credit rating file. Assurances Groupe Vezina is there to help you prevent losses. Feel free to contact us.
Sources: The Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre and the Consumer Measures Committee
