Winnipeg Free Press, David Christianson
Friday, March 11, 2011
In the past two weeks, I have received 11 email requests from various banks, asking me to either help them with their security or confirm no one has hacked into my online banking accounts. And these are just the ones that snuck through the spam filter.
Most of them want me to log onto a website and confirm my password, or similar procedure.
The problem is, I don't have accounts with any of those banks. These were all "phishing" expeditions by attempted identity thieves.
It seems I'm not alone. An American company called ACI Worldwide conducted a survey recently and found 20 per cent of Canadians reported suffering an incident of fraud on credit or debit cards in the last five years.
TD Insurance paid for a poll in February 2011, and found 82 per cent of Prairie residents are concerned with ID theft. TD now has an insurance product -- Identity Plus Advantage -- that can be added to a house insurance policy for $50 a year.
What I like about it is your claim results in the assignment of a case worker to put in the countless hours of time it can take to put your financial life back in order, in the event of identity theft. The insurance also provides $30,000 of loss protection.
I also use a service offered by Equifax, which monitors my credit rating constantly and sends me a reassuring email once a month, telling me there had been no suspicious activity in my account, or sends an alert if there is some. It also provides ID theft insurance and a quarterly credit report and score, but costs $15 a month.
Obviously, the worst thing that could happen from identity theft is someone stealing your money. However, close behind might be the destruction of your credit rating. You can help protect yourself by using Equifax or TransUnion regularly and checking your own credit report. They each provide a free service, or you can pay for an instant report.
Make note of any change in your score or any listings of accounts that don't belong to you. (Keep in mind these reports have a long memory, so may be still listing your now-dormant loans or accounts.)
Always be extremely careful with all of your personal information, credit card numbers, account numbers, PINs, social insurance number and anything else that could allow someone to "share" your identity or access your financial accounts.
If you treat all of these things as cash, you will be less likely to leave them lying around. Shred (or burn) all statements when throwing them away.
Never respond to emails that appear to be from a bank or other financial institution asking for your help to reset a password or improve the security on your account. Legitimate institutions will never request this information by email. Also be careful about "vishing", where someone asks for the same information over the phone.
Whenever I talk to one of my financial institutions now, I ask them security questions before I let them ask me theirs, to prove who they are. A little paranoia can go a long way.
On my blog, I have some articles with additional tips, and we have added a new comprehensive advice piece provided by the experts at TD Insurance. Go to: www.davidchristianson.com and follow the tags for Identity Theft.
This new document even has some suggestions about protecting yourself (and your children) when using social networking sites. (Don't even get me started on that... )
Identity theft is serious business, as someone who gathers enough of your personal information can start to open accounts in your name, rack up bills and not pay them, ruin your credit rating and leave you fighting to avoid paying their debts. You may spend months or years clearing your name.
Some basic precautions can significantly reduce the chance of this happening. Let's all do our part.
David Christianson is a fee-for-service financial planner at Wellington West Total Wealth Management Inc., Portfolio Manager (Restricted). He can be reached at dchristianson@wellwest.ca