IDENTITY FRAUD:
It’s
Personal
What you need to know to protect
yourself from this sinister crime
OPPOSITE: CHIP STUDIO/GETTY
BY BONNIE STARING
A UNIVERSITY STUDENT in Edmonton was
apps to access data on our smartphones.
in shock when the call came. On the other
We share vital information with banks
end of the line was a rep from a phone
and government agencies.
company. They were demanding she pay
In doing so, details about our lives
her outstanding bill. “What bill?” she said.
are distributed to myriad files and dataThe one for $3,500, they replied. She was
bases, enabling an increasingly sophisso floored by the amount that she hung
ticated type of criminal. Identity-related
up on the caller—she thought it was all a
crimes, as Canada’s Department of Justice
scam, intended to get her to pay money she
refers to them, include the theft and trafdidn’t owe.
ficking of personal information (a.k.a.
But the company called back, threatidentity theft), as well as the actual use
ening to involve a collection agency.
of that information “to gain advantage,
They provided her with the
obtain property, disadvanThe Canadian
details—more than 30 pages
tage another person, avoid
of charges. She was aghast
arrest or defeat or obstruct
Anti-Fraud
after reading page after page
Centre reveals the course of justice” (a.k.a.
of unknown numbers.
that mo