Identity Theft
Identity Theft
Throughout this site, our team has given you some tips on how to protect your PC from intruders. Installing and updating these tools may seem like a hassle but they are necessary to help prevent identity theft. As mentioned in another article, if your credit card is stolen, the card issuer usually assumes most of the liability but it is really another task trying to prove your identity if that has been stolen. Identity theft is a rapid & growing trend and can truly ruin your life if you become a victim. Identity theft can steal your money, name, possessions, your good credit and turn your lifestyle upside down.
Identity theft has been a problem for quite some time but the Internet has given this crime the tools to expand in mass proportions. Dumpster diving and mail theft is still a thriving business as most people throw away valuable pieces of information without shredding them first. The more pieces that these thieves can put together about you, the better the odds of becoming you. For example, I was sitting in my vehicle waiting for my children to finish their dance lessons and right next door in my view was a car wash. Car wash, big deal you would think as did I until I noticed what seemed to be a man pulling apart their garbage cans. At first, I thought he might be an employee who was cleaning the cans. However, he looked a little scruffy and I'm sure that a car wash employee would have to dress a little more presentable. My next conclusion was that it must be a homeless person looking for discarded food. Then I saw him pulling receipts out of the garbage and pocketing them. He rummaged though all the cans, meanwhile, I was waiting for an actual employee to come out and stop him but to no avail. Then as quickly as he appeared, he disappeared. He left me wondering whether he was or was not an employee and exactly what he intended to do with all those receipts. This is a self-serve car wash and most people don't think about what they are disposing of in a public garbage bin. The same holds true to using your credit card. When you use your card in person, not only does a potential crook get a hold of your card number but they also get a physical description of the card holder which is you. Sometimes they even ask to see supplementary identification for the purpose of preventing fraudulent use of your card. Usually this is only the case with large purchases, which is fine so long as they just look at my driver's license. What I feel uneasy about is when they write down my number. I always feel that this increased security could be a sham and perhaps a ploy to get that extra information out of you that could harm you later. It's fine to be trusting but always air on the side of caution. These merchants may be trying to protect both their customers and themselves with these added security measures but what happens if they're not as diligent disposing of the collected data? Many years ago, I use to work for a company that would just recycle identification mailed into us such as copies of passports, driver's licenses, birth certificates and social insurance numbers. This company is no longer in operation and I am happy to report that the company that bought them shreds this sensitive information.
The Internet has brought about a more sophisticated means of dumpster diving. For one thing, unless encrypted, email should not be considered a secure method of transmitting sensitive or personal data. Email should be considered as a milk run. In other words, making a lot of possible stops along the way and who knows who is reading your letter along the way. Also, there could be someone just taking bits of pieces of your emails building a profile of you with every bit you transmit. This is also the reason that I recommend using anti-spyware software. It's not just to keep out marketers researching the sites that you visit most frequently. It's a major privacy issue.
You must check your credit report once a year. You can either request a copy online for a fee or write to either credit bureau to get a copy mailed to you for free. In Canada, you have the choice of Equifax Canada or TransUnion Canada. A little trick that I do with credit cards that have a zero balance is that I throw a couple extra bucks on them to give them a positive balance. No, I don't believe in giving those over the top high interest lenders any more money than they deserve but I feel that it's a bit of an insurance policy for me. When you have no balance, you don't usually get monthly statements but if there's any balance positive or negative you do. This way I can monitor that my card has not been misused in any way.
In the meantime, follow a few guidelines that we have outlined in our site by layering your security such as updating your antiviral software, using a firewall, spyware removal software, an email filter, a registry modifying alarm which is known as an intrusion detection system or IDS, a pop-up blocker, and encrypting sensitive files on your PC. Your passwords should be strong which means, lengthy, not easy to guess, not dictionary words or family names and a combination of letters and numbers. If you use a public use PC or public wireless connection then don't do any sensitive transactions online. Keyloggers are commonly found on public use PC’s, which record all your keystrokes thus stealing passwords etc. Public hot spots for wireless connections are often frequented by wireless sniffers, which pull strings of data transmission sent between your computer and the wireless access point out of the air. You run a greater chance of crackers breaking into your confidential data stored on your hard drive while using a public hotspot so you should ensure that you have adequate up to date security tools installed on your computer. In our opinion, public use PC's and wireless hotspots should be used, as intended, for casual surfing only. Never give anyone your password and don't leave it on a post-it note attached to your monitor. If someone wants to steal it, then let them work really hard for it. Common sense goes a long way too. If something doesn't feel right, it probably isn't. All these precautions will give you some defense against outside attacks but inside attacks can happen as well. You should always have your screensaver lock your PC when you walk away even for a moment. If you allow others to use your PC, you should know what they are doing on it. Educate your children about appropriate Internet behaviour to keep them safe as well as maintaining your family’s privacy. Last but not least, every home or business needs a shredder these days. Don't discard any sensitive information without shredding it first. Every little bit of garbage carelessly thrown away can ultimately add another piece to the puzzle if someone’s profiling your identity. Hope this article gave you a little food for thought. If you suspect that you are a victim of identity theft, you should report it to your local police immediately and contact the two major credit agencies to put a fraud alert on your account. More information is available from the Consumer Measures Committee. Take the ABC's of Fraud Quiz and see how you do. Until next time....Surf Smart!!
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