How to protect your identity

We’re all on guard to protect our hard-earned money. What you might not notice, though, is when criminals seek something else that’s really valuable: your identity. 

It happens every day. People who would never dream of giving out their credit card number after receiving a random call, text, or email give away personal information on social media for free—including birthdates, home addresses, and details often used to answer website security questions. 

The consequences can be dire. If fraudsters open a credit card, line of credit, or mortgage in your name, for example, you may be held financially liable. Your credit score may be affected, making it very hard for you to get credit—such as a mortgage or car loan—when you need it. 

“Identity theft is not new, but we are seeing more and more of it,” says Octavia Howell, vice-president and chief information security officer at credit bureau Equifax Canada. “We are seeing more and more scams perpetrated that enable identity theft to happen.”

In some cases, identity theft is out of your control. Fraudsters may steal personal information through a cyber-attack on a company or government database, for example, or buy it on the dark web (hidden websites where criminals traffic in stolen data). 

What can Canadians do to protect themselves from identity theft—and, if it happens, minimize the damage?

6 safety tips to reduce your risk of identity theft

“You can’t really prevent it,” Howell says, but you can make identity theft more difficult for criminals, causing them to move on to easier targets. Here are some preventative measures:

Get to know your digital profile. Google yourself to get a sense of what information about you is readily available on the internet. Then focus on protecting what is not public, such as usernames, passwords, account numbers, and your social insurance number (SIN). If a company or government department you deal with gets hacked, be especially wary. Change your passwords on sensitive accounts. Be vigilant about your financial standing. Check credit card statements and credit reports often for unfamiliar charges. One common tactic is the “salami attack,” where criminals test out a credit card or other account number with a small purchase or transfer, perhaps just for $2. If it works, they’ll take a thicker slice next time. “If you don’t catch it, if you don’t shut it down, it’s just going to continue and in larger amounts,” Howell says. Don’t connect to public wifi, especially when accessing your bank account or inputting credit card information. Be wary when someone asks for personal information. Don’t respond to requests from unfamiliar people, companies or institutions. If the request appears to come from, say, your bank, a friend, or the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA), contact them using a different line to check the legitimacy of the request. (Also read: How to protect your CRA account from scams.) Shut down inactive and underused accounts. For example, close a car loan that has been paid off. Untended accounts provide openings for fraudsters. Enable two-factor or multi-factor authentication to access your accounts wherever you can. That way, even if criminals have some personal information on you, they get stopped at this second level of security. “That is the thing that can sometimes protect you,” Howell says.
Video Social media scams

A convincing new scam to watch out for

One kind of scam that’s become common over the past year is the “bank investigator” scam, Howell says. Victims receive a call or a text message from a 1-800 number where the caller poses as an investigator from a financial institution or credit bureau, or even the police. They claim to have detected fraud on your account and ask for authentication codes to access your devices, or even to collect your cards in person at your home. Sometimes there’s a second call from someone pretending to be a lawyer, and they seem to have corroborating information.

Once they have enough personal details, the fraudsters might use them to take out a car loan or open a cell phone plan, for example, and then never pay for it—and the victim is stuck with the bill. 

What to do if someone has obtained credit in your name

If you discover someone has used your identity to commit fraud, contact your credit card issuer and both of Canada’s credit bureaus to scrub fraudulent charges from your credit history as soon as possible, Howell emphasizes. Try to determine exactly what information has been compromised. Put fraud monitoring and fraud alerts on the account. Notify the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre (CAFC) and local police, especially if there’s a possibility of a visit to your home.

If the fraud persists, it can ruin your credit rating. “That can be devastating,” Howell says. It can take months or even years to fully restore control over your identity.

But the easiest course is prevention. The risk of identity theft is never zero, but you can reduce the odds it will happen to you.

“You just don’t want to be an easy target,” Howell says. “You want to make it a little bit difficult for fraudsters, because there are easier targets out there.”

Detect fraud earlier with Equifax’s credit monitoring 

Equifax CompleteTM Protection is a subscription service that keeps a close on your credit report and can alert you if your identity has been compromised. Features of this service include:

Daily credit monitoring and alerts of key changes to your Equifax credit report, such as a new loan or credit card application Social media monitoring by ZeroFox, to alert you to suspicious activity on your social media accounts WebScan, which monitors the dark web for personal information you provide Online data encryption by NordVPN and password management by NordPass Parental controls from Bitdefender to restrict kids’ access to websites and apps Device protection from Bitdefender to help stop phishing attempts and block viruses and malware Support from an Equifax identity restoration specialist, if your identity is stolen Identity theft insurance up to $1 million for out-of-pocket expenses (not available in Quebec)

Equifax Complete Protection costs $34.95 per month. To learn more, visit the Equifax website.

Read more about fraud and scams:

Relationship fraud and romance scams: What Canadians need to know How to protect yourself from identity fraud in Canada Why do Canadians keep falling for scams? How to protect your devices against identity theft

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