Credit Card Education

Identity Theft: A Growing Crime

Identity theft can be detrimental when someone access essential elements of a person's identifying information in order to commit fraud or theft.

It is therefore important to recognise, prevent and resolve identity theft to protect yourself.

What is identity theft?

Identity theft happens when someone steals your identity and impersonates you in order to open credit accounts, rent apartments, even engage in criminal acts. You don't know when it happens. Then one day you are turned down unexpectedly for a loan, you get a call from a collection agency about an account you never opened, or worse yet, a call from the police about a crime you didn't commit. Suddenly you are a victim of identity theft.

How does identity theft happen?

Criminals steal personal information, such as Identity Card numbers, driver's license numbers, credit card numbers, ATM cards, and other key pieces of individuals' identities. They use this stolen information to impersonate their victims, spending as much money as they can in as short a time as possible before moving on to their next victim.

Identity thieves use a variety of ways to gain access to this personal information including:

• Stealing your mail
• Looking through your garbage
• Stealing your wallet or purse
• Posing as your employer, bank or utility company needing to "update their records"
• Grabbing information off internet sites that are not secure
• Completing a "change of address'' form

Once the thief has access to this information, they may open a new credit card account in your name providing a "new" billing address. Given that the credit card bills will not go to your address, chances are, you will not be aware of the new account. When the thief does not pay the bills, the credit card company will report this to your credit file. The thief may also open up bank accounts in your name and write bad cheques, apply for services in your name or request a "replacement" card to be sent to a new address.