(NC)—According to a recent a cross-Canada survey on identity theft conducted by Sigma Assistel, a Desjardins Financial Security subsidiary specializing in telephone assistance services, one in 15 Canadians have been a victim of identity theft. Close to one in six knows someone who has been victimized by this crime and four in 10 expect that they will likely become a victim sometime in the future.
What is identity theft?
It occurs when someone obtains another person's personal information without consent (such as a credit card number, driver's license, social insurance number, date of birth, etc.) to commit a crime like fraud. Once armed with this information, an identity thief can easily defraud victims of thousands of dollars.
Luckily, there are steps that you can take to prevent this crime from happening to you.
Five easy steps to protect yourself against identity theft
• Systematically shred all unnecessary documents that contain any personal information that could be used to identify you, such as your date of birth, home address or social insurance number.
• Never confirm your PIN, credit card numbers, SIN, driver's license or other personal information over the phone or e-mail unless you initiated the request.
• Collect your mail every day. Or, if you're about to go on vacation, ask a trusted friend or member to collect it for you.
• Only do business over the web with reputable companies that have high Internet security standards.
• Use a credit card with a low credit limit when making online purchases.
Identity theft is a troubling trend, but forewarned is forearmed. Know the risks and know how to protect yourself. And if identity theft should happen to you, contact your financial institution immediately.
Source: www.newscanada.com
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