Identity Theft - Part 2

Canadian Broadcast Company (CBC-March, 2007) had the following to say about Identity Theft:

A poll, conducted in 2006 by the Strategic Counsel for the Competition Bureau of Canada, suggests that 17 per cent of Canadians aged 18 or older have either been victimized themselves or had an incident affect someone in their homes.
Even more people have been hit by marketing fraud, according to the survey: 31 per cent or about one in three adults.

Yet Canadians are not likely to complain to the authorities when they are victimized in marketing frauds, according to the survey.
"It remains the case that few people make a significant effort to report or resolve an incident of marketing fraud," the report said, with 43 per cent saying that they "did nothing."

Only eight per cent went to the local police, and even smaller numbers to the Competition Bureau, business groups or the fraud hotline PhoneBusters. For example, PhoneBusters got calls from about 7,800 people complaining of identity theft in 2006, with losses amounting to more than $16 million.

Many respondents said it would be just too much trouble to report the incident, or not worth it.
More often, people took matters into their own hands, contacting the company involved, stopping payment, changing their banking information or trying to get a refund.

Quote of the Day:

"No experiment is ever a complete failure. It can always be used as a bad example."