How CAA
can help
The Right Stuff
A selection of unique
products, such as RFID
(radio frequency identification) blocking wallets
and passport holders to
prevent fraudulent data
scanning, are available
at CAA Manitoba service
centres and online.
shop.caamanitoba.com
CAA Identity
Protection
“There are individuals who
prey on unsuspecting people, looking to use their
information for their
own benefit,” says
Larry Simons, assistant
vice president for Equifax.
This product, powered by
Equifax, is free to CAA
Plus and Premier members. It includes internet
monitoring for your personal information, as well
as help cancelling and
replacing identification if
your wallet is stolen.
caamanitoba.com/equifax
Equifax Complete™
Advantage Plan
To help protect your identity, this product offers
quarterly access to your
Equifax credit report and
daily Equifax credit-file
monitoring, with email
alerts to key changes.
“Changes to a credit file
can be an early warning
sign of potential identity
theft,” Simons says.
CAA members can
subscribe to this product
for a special rate:
caamanitoba.com/equifax
EQUIFAX AND THE EQUIFAX
MARKS USED HEREIN ARE
REGISTERED TRADEMARKS
OF EQUIFAX CANADA CO.
52
SPRING 2016
CAA MANITOBA
another cautionary tale. “We discovered
says Edmonton detective Bill Allen, who
received the 2015 Law Enforcement Award that the dealership kept customer [credit
check] documents locked up,” he says,
of Excellence for Counterfeit Deterrence
“but an employee stole some of them and
from the Bank of Canada.
sold them to an identity thief.”
The question is: How do you protect
Although the dealership employee
yourself from being defrauded in the
was never apprehended, the business
first place?
changed the way it stores client inforDetective Allen emphasizes that crimimation. The employee’s accomplice, who
nals who commit identity fraud prize the
committed the fraud, is currently serving a
holy trinity of ID: birth certificate, SIN
four-year jail sentence for that offence and
and driver’s licence. “Even Service Canada,
other crimes.
which issues SIN cards, advises against
There’s another way car shopping can
carrying it on you,” he says. “Memorize the
open the door to identity theft. It’s comnumber instead because the card has few,
mon for dealerships to photocopy your
if any, security features, and it can be used
driver’s licence before you take a test drive.
as secondary ID for a bank account.”
That copy contains a wealth of personal
If a criminal comes into possession of
details. After your test drive, insist that the
your wallet, he or she is not just going to
copy be destroyed or returned to you.
go on a spending spree. “The bad guy can
In fact, you should make a habit of
then determine where you bank, go to a
asking why your information is needed
different branch and claim to have lost his
any time it’s requested—no
debit card,” Allen explains.
matter where you are. Then
“The bank will ask for ID,
so he hands over a [fake]
Criminals who ask how it’ll be stored, for
driver’s licence and your
commit identity exactly how long, and when
and how it will be destroyed.
SIN card. Since everything
fraud prize
matches what they have on
the holy trinity THE PHONE RINGS. A grandfile, the bank employee issues
of ID: birth
a new debit card, asking
mother answers and it
certificate,
the fraudster to input a new
sounds like her grandson,
SIN and
PIN.” The criminal has now
but he’s frantic—he’s in
driver’s licence. trouble and needs bail
taken over your identity.
In many cases, it doesn’t
money, begging her not to
stop there. The fraudster can
“tell mom and dad.” She
then go to other financial institutions to
hangs up, drives to the bank and withopen new bank accounts, credit cards and
draws the money he needs. But something
even lines of credit. The next step is for the gives her pause. She dials her grandson on
criminal to get the bank to think that he
his cell phone—he’s safe at home and defior she is a good customer by making some
nitely did not ask for money.
deposits. “They deposit empty envelopes
The telephone is an important part of
or fake cheques, and then withdraw as
the identity thief ’s toolkit. Fortunately,
much cash as possible,” Allen says. “When
the woman had second thoughts and
the bank looks up the account, it falls back
discovered the reality of the situation.
onto the person who lost their wallet.”
“But she was so embarrassed,” Allen says,
Of course, rather than stealing directly
“she sent her husband to the bank to put
from you, thieves can also target busithe money back.” The emergency scam
nesses to which you’ve volunteered perdescribed above may seem far-fetched, but
sonal details.
it does happen.
A similar scam is intended to catch its
victim off guard: The caller will claim
A MAN IS SHOPPING for a new vehicle at a
to be from the Canada Revenue Agency
car dealership. After test-driving his ride of
(CRA), and demand the immediate paychoice, he negotiates the price and offers up
ment of outstanding taxes. “This one plays
credit check information for leasing and
on fear because we’re taught to never, ever
purchase purposes—assuming that sensiowe the government,” the detective says.
tive information is securely stored. Months
“What people need to remember is that
later, he discovers he’s on the hook for three
the CRA doesn’t give discounts if you pay
separate credit card bills in his name—
early, and you never have to send the cash
none of which he applied for.
to a person.”
Allen points to this real case as yet