We have all heard of it. But we all think we are invincible. Identity theft!

What is it? It refers to the preparatory stage of acquiring and collecting another person’s personal information for criminal purposes.

Identity theft techniques can range from straightforward, such as dumpster diving and mail theft, to more elaborate schemes.

If your identity is stolen, do you have a plan to mitigate the damage? If not, you should at least bookmark it, in case you need it in the future.

Identity thieves look for the following information:
• full name
• birthday date
• Social security numbers
• full address
• Mother’s Maiden Name
• username and password for online services
• Driver’s license number
• personal identification numbers (PIN)
• credit card information (numbers, expiration dates and the last three digits printed on the signature panel)
• bank account numbers
• firm
• passport number

There are things you can do to protect yourself from identity theft, and there are steps you can take to minimize the damage and help bring the thief to justice.

Here are 5 things you can do right now to protect yourself:
1. Don’t sign the back of your credit cards. Instead, write ‘PHOTO ID REQUIRED’.
2. When writing checks to pay your credit card accounts, DO NOT put the full account number on the ‘To’ line. Instead, put the last four numbers. The rest of the number is known to the credit card company, and anyone who may be handling your check as it goes through all the check processing channels will not have access to it.
3. Put your work phone number on your checks instead of your home phone. If you have a PO Box, use it instead of your home address. If you don’t have a PO Box, use your work address. Never print your SIN on your checks. (DUH!) You can add it if necessary. But if you have it printed, anyone can get it.
4. Put the contents of your wallet on a copier. Do both sides of each license, credit card, etc. You will know what you had in your wallet and all the account numbers and phone numbers to call and cancel. Keep the photocopy in a safe place.
5. When traveling abroad, bring a photocopy of your passport. We have all heard horror stories about fraud committed by stealing a name, an address, a social security number, credit cards, etc.

If your identity is stolen, what kinds of things can you expect to happen?

Here are just a few of what they can do:
1. Access your bank accounts
2. Open new bank accounts
3. Transfer bank balances
4. Apply for loans, credit cards.
5. make purchases
6. Buy cell phone packages
7. Line of credit approved by retail stores
8. Access your driving record and change your information online.

If you are a victim, here is critical information to act on immediately:
1. Cancel your credit cards immediately. But the key is to have your toll-free numbers and card numbers handy so you know who to call. Keep them where you can find them. That is why we photocopied them (see above). Also call your local bank / financial institution.
2. File a police report immediately in the jurisdiction where your credit cards, etc. were stolen. This shows credit providers that you were diligent, and this is a first step toward an investigation (if there ever is one).
But this is what is perhaps most important of all:
3. Immediately call credit reporting companies nationwide. Ask them to place a fraud alert on your name and credit report. The alert means that any business that checks your credit knows your information was stolen and must contact you by phone to authorize new credit.

These are the numbers for two national credit bureaus:
1.) Equifax: 1-800-465-7166
2.) TransUnion Canada: 1-877-525-3823
3. Request free copies of your credit report from each of the credit reporting companies nationwide.

Have you been a victim of identity theft? Tell us your story and maybe others can learn from what you did or did not do.