How AMA
Can Help
“Identity theft
and fraud are very
complex issues,
so you need to
be educated
and engaged to
protect yourself,”
says Wendy Mah,
AMA’s coordinator
of safety and
security services.
AMA offers unique
services for identity protection:
Secure Document
Disposal
Visit an AMA centre to
purchase document
disposal envelopes. Fill
them at your convenience
and drop them into the
secure bin at AMA. The
bin’s contents are then
destroyed.
Drive-Thru
Shredding
At spring and summer
shredding events,
members can drop off
documents to have
sensitive materials safely
destroyed on site by an
AMA service provider,
free of charge.
ama.ab.ca/Shredding
Added Protection
with AMA
Insurance
Every AMA home
insurance policy includes
identity theft expense
coverage. Best of all, the
coverage requires no
additional premium.
ama.ab.ca/insurance
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SPRING 2016
AMA INSIDER
“but an employee stole some of them and
in the first place?
sold them to an identity thief.”
Detective Allen emphasizes that crimiAlthough the dealership employee was
nals who commit identity fraud prize the
never apprehended, the business changed
holy trinity of ID: birth certificate,
the way it stores client information. The
Social Insurance Number and driver’s
employee’s accomplice, who committed the
licence. “Even Service Canada, which
fraud, is serving a four-year jail sentence
issues SIN cards, advises against carrying
for that offence and a few other crimes.
it on you,” he says. “Memorize the number
There’s another way car shopping can
instead because the card has few, if any,
open the door to identity theft. It’s comsecurity features, and it can be used as
mon for dealerships to photocopy your
secondary ID for a bank account.”
driver’s licence before you take a test drive.
If a criminal comes into possession of
That copy contains a wealth of personal
your wallet, he or she is not just going to go
details. After your test drive, insist that the
on a spending spree. “The bad guy can then
copy be destroyed or returned to you.
determine where you bank, go to a differIn fact, you should make a habit of
ent branch and claim to have lost his debit
asking why your information is needed
card,” Allen explains. “The bank will ask
any time it’s requested—no matter where
for ID, so he hands over a [fake] driver’s
you are. Then ask how it’ll be stored, for
licence and your SIN card. Since everything
exactly how long, and when and how it
matches what they have on file, the bank
will be destroyed.
employee issues a new debit
card, asking the fraudster to
Criminals who
input a new PIN.” The crimcommit identity THE PHONE RINGS. A grandinal has now taken over your
mother answers and it
fraud prize
identity.
sounds like her grandson,
the holy trinity but he’s frantic—he’s in trouIn many cases, it doesn’t
of ID: birth
stop there. The fraudster
ble and needs bail money,
certificate,
can then go to other finanbegging her not to “tell mom
Social
cial institutions to open new
and dad.” She hangs up,
bank accounts, credit cards
drives to the bank and withInsurance
and even lines of credit. The
draws the money he needs.
Number and
next step is for the criminal
driver’s licence. But something gives her
to get the bank to think that
pause. She dials her grandhe or she is a good customer
son on his cell phone—he’s
by making some deposits. “They deposit
safe at home and definitely did not ask
empty envelopes or fake cheques, and
for money.
then withdraw as much cash as possible,”
The telephone is an important part of the
Allen says. “When the bank looks up the
identity thief ’s toolkit. Fortunately,
account, it falls back onto the person who
the woman had second thoughts and dislost their wallet.”
covered the reality of the situation. “But
Of course, rather than stealing directly
she was so embar