Victim of Idenity Theft

First of all, you should report to the police that you are a victim of identity theft.
Second, take action to undo the damage. Remember to take notes of all you do to clear your name.
Third, remember to cancel all your credit cards. If you wish, you can get new ones as well.
Fourth, if necessary, close all your bank accounts. Your bank manger can assist you at this stage.
Fifth, contact utilities such as your telephone and cable companies that you are a victim of identity theft.
Last, contact your postal service that you are a victim of identity theft.
Hopefully you will never have to do the above. However to be forewarn is to be prepared.
Good luck!

Quote of the Day:

"There is nothing wrong with making mistakes. Just don't respond with encores."--Anonymous

Identity Theft - Part 3

How to Avoid Identity Theft

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) have the following suggestions:

1. Be very careful of sharing personal information.
2. When asked about personal information, ask how it will be used,
why it is being collected,and how it will be shared. You will be
surprised at the answers you get in return.
3. Give out no more information than is required and carry minimal ID with you.
4. Be careful of your Social Security Number (SIN) . Companies use this in
their credit reports.
5. Never keep important ID such as PIN numbers, SIN, and passwords for your
computer on your person.
6. Avoid at all cost giving your credit card etc. information over the phone
or computer unless you have initated the communication.
7. Insure your computer is protected when you use the Internet. All computers
should have a Firewall and a virus protector on their computer.
8. Be careful what you throw in the garbage. Shred or burn personal papers
and financial information.
9. As best you can, hide you personal PIN when using terminals.
10. Access your credit report from a credit reporting agency once a year
to ensure it's accurate.

Quote for the Day:

"Do not look where you fell, but where you slipped. " --African Proverb

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."

Identity Theft - Part 1

Identity theft has become an increasingly popular crime in Canada as well as in the rest of the world. It has been estimated that identity theft has hit one out of every six adult Canadians - more than 4.2 million people - either directly or within their immediate households, a survey suggests.
Identity theft involves stealing or misrepresenting the identity of another person or business.
Information such as your name, address, date of birth, social insurance number(social security number in the USA) and mother's maiden name need to be acquired in order to complete the impersonation.
Once the thief has this information, they can open new bank accounts, transfer bank balances, apply for loans, credit cards and other services, purchase vehicles, take vacations .......

"Contrary to popular belief, fraud does not affect only the vulnerable in our society. Everyone is at risk of becoming a victim, regardless of age, education or income," Competition Bureau commissioner Sheridan Scott said.

Quote of the Day:

"Experience is a hard teacher. She gives the test first, the lessons afterward."

Dialing " 9 "

Better Business Bureaus and police are warning people about a telephone scam where an automated caller promises the recipient a free vacation if they dial "9".

When the resident picks up the phone, a recorded message claims they have won a trip and asks them to dial"9" to claim it or "8" to be removed from the market list. By pressing "9" someone comes on the line and attempts to obtain personal information from them, likely for the use in IDENTITY THEFT.

Even pressing "8", which the recorded message says will remove you from their distribution list, confirms your phone number and that you are susceptible to this type of marketing, resulting in your name being added to other marketing lists.
If the call comes into a business with a commercial switchboard requiring employees to dial "9" to get an outside line, going along with the request would give the caller an outside line they can use to make expensive overseas phone calls.

Calls like this come from outside the country, using an automatic dialer to push out thousands of calls a day.
The simple solution to all this is to HANG UP the phone. Good Luck.

Quote of the Day:

"The fish does not go after the hook, but after the bait." --Czech Proverb