It’s growing almost as fast as the list of scams
Lisa Hrabluk
Province
Edmonton police Det. Bob Gauthier displays credit cards and photo ID used in identity-theft cases. – CANWEST NEWS FILE
Ladies, there’s a bag of riches sitting in the bottom drawer of your office desk.
Your purses, filled with information about yourself and your family, are there, unlocked — and when you’re away from your desk, unguarded — waiting to be pilfered.
But today’s thief isn’t after your spare change; they’re out to change your life by stealing your identity and using it to rack up huge bills on ill-gotten credit cards and online accounts.
“Women have got their ID in there, maybe stuff about their kids, a few of the family bills because women look after that stuff, so they’re carrying it around,” said Det. Bob Gauthier, a veteran Internet fraud investigator with the Edmonton Police Service.
As for men, you’d better stop leaving your wallets behind gym lockers or under the driver’s side in your vehicle if you don’t want it getting into the wrong hands.
“People need to understand that your ID is worth cash, it’s valuable, and you have to protect it like cash,” said Gauthier.
Identity theft is the fastest growing crime in Canada and encompasses an ever-growing list of scams, including:
– Phishing, a common fraud that sees thieves e-mail their victims pretending to be their bank and asking them to e-mail their account and personal information back as a way to verify their identity;
– Skimming, in which fraudsters place a device over the card slot of Interac and automated teller machines to read the information encoded on the black magnetic strip of bank and credit cards; and,
– Mail theft, the simple act of stealing or redirecting a person’s mail to obtain personal information from monthly bills and bank correspondence.
While phishing and skimming are largely orchestrated by criminal organizations that oftentimes located far from their victims, local police forces are investigating a growing number of mail and credit-card thefts that inevitably lead to cases of identity theft.
“We know our meth [addicts] are in chat rooms buying and selling IDs,” said Gauthier, who said the problem is growing in cities such as Edmonton and Vancouver.”Meth is a very social drug. When they get together, they talk. They’re on the quest for the big scam.”
For example, the simple act of dumpster diving could unearth discarded credit card receipts and/or bills. With this in hand, thieves can charge things over the phone and begin to rack up charges on their victims’ cards.
Increasingly, thieves are using a person’s ID to apply for credit cards from other banks and retail stores, maxing out their credit, all without the victim’s knowledge — until it’s time to apply for a loan or legitimate credit. Then the victim receives the horrible news that they’ve been rejected because of a poor credit rating.
In B.C., Sgt. Tim Olmstead of the RCMP’s E Division commercial-crime section, said a recent case of identity theft bore the common hallmarks — and heartbreak — of this type of crime.
“This person didn’t have any forewarning that they had been a victim of identity theft until she needed to go buy a car in order to begin a new job and she couldn’t because her credit application was denied,” said Olmstead.
“There was a huge time delay in fixing the problem and she had to amend the priorities in her life. She couldn’t take the job. It was really unfortunate. She’s in her early 20s and dealing with something like this.”
While credit bureaus will reinstate a victim’s credit history, it takes a long time because the person must establish they were a victim of identity theft and that is sometimes difficult to prove.
Both Olmstead and Gauthier recommend everyone call their provincial credit bureaus regularly to request copies of their credit histories. That will reveal any unusual activity and will reveal which companies have requested credit checks on your accounts.
“Identity theft is only limited by the fraudster’s imagination,” said Olmstead. “We’re all susceptible to it.”
Avoid becoming a victim
To minimize your risk of becoming a victim of identity theft you should:
1. Guard Your Personal Information.
– Buy a shredder and 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;
– Use complex passwords on your computer, credit card, financial and other accounts;
– Don’t leave personal information lying around;
– Don’t give personal information to anyone who phones or e-mails you unless you know who they are ;
2. Keep Your Computer and Its Contents Safe.
– Don’t use an automatic log-in feature that saves your user name and password, 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, switched on or off;
– Add virus protection software and update it regularly;
– Use a credit card rather than a debit card to make purchases.
3. Be Vigilant.
– Order a credit report once a year;
– Pay attention to credit card expiry dates and if the replacement card hasn’t arrived, call the credit card company;
– Keep a list of the names, account numbers and expiration dates of your credit cards in a safe place;
– Memorize all passwords.