Identity theft is on the rise. The consequences of identity theft are frightening. Identity thieves can use your personal information for a variety of wrongful ends. In particular, identity thieves may use your personal information to open a new credit card account in your name and use the card to rack up large debts for which you may be held responsible; fraudulently obtain identification, such as a driver's license with your name and/or picture; establish a phone account in your name, then make expensive long-distance calls.
Be alert to the risk of identity theft. In particular, you should be conscientious regarding receipt of your bills. If you track your credit card bills and your regular monthly receipt of the statements, you will notice if you fail to receive a bill. A missing bill may mean that an identity theft has taken over your account, and changed your billing address, to cover up his misdeed. You should also be curious about receiving credit cards that you didn't apply for.
If you are denied credit for no apparent reason, receive credit on highly unfavorable terms, such as a very high interest rate, or receive a telephone call from a debt collector regarding a debt for which you have no knowledge, you should take immediate action.
- Obtain all the information that you can collect from all persons involved. For example, speak to the bill collector and ask him for details of the debt which he claims is your own. What was the date that the debt was incurred, by what method, and for what purpose?
- Contact your local police station regarding the filing of a police report, and to get further resources regarding the appropriate protocol for dealing with the situation.
- Close bank accounts that can be accessed with your information, and contact all appropriate agencies which issue identification.
- Place a fraud alert on your credit cards.
Diligence will help you avoid any responsibility for debts that you did not incur, but anticipate that clearing your credit will take time and a myriad of calls/trips to various regulatory/policing bodies.
To avoid the situation in the first instance, there are steps you can take to protect yourself against identity theft.
- Do not carry identification that is not necessary, for example, your social insurance card.
- Don't give out personal information to anyone who contacts you through a telephone solicitation. In any event, don't give out your personal information such as your social insurance number, unless it is absolutely necessary. If you do give out personal information, enquire as to its use, and with whom it will be shared.
- When selecting a password or PIN, select a code which is random, or at least, do not use a birth date, your mother's maiden name, or other information which is readily accessible.
- Keep a sheet of your personal information and in particular your credit card account numbers, expiration dates, and the customer service numbers so that if your cards are lost or stolen, you can quickly advise your financial institution to put a freeze on your card. Some credit cards have a feature by which you can register all your card account numbers with them- this means that if your wallet is lost or stolen, you can make 1 phone call- the respective credit card company will then make all your other calls for you. If you register for this service, be aware as to who the credit card company will contact on your behalf, and follow up with them, to confirm that the necessary steps have been taken.
- One of the means used by identity thieves to steal your personal information is rummaging through garbage for discarded credit card statements, bills or cheques; therefore, tear up or ideally shred all cheques, discarded statements and bills. Expired credit cards should likewise be destroyed. In particular, ensure that you destroy pre-approved credit card or credit line solicitations.
- Minimize your problems by minimizing the number of active credit cards which you own.
- Cancel all inactive cards.
- Sign new credit cards upon receipt. If a credit card's signature pad has rubbed off, order a new credit card. In the interim, record in dark ink upon the old signature pad, "Request Signature" or "Request ID" in the event that the card is stolen.
- Request a Credit Report on a periodic basis to verify accuracy.
