Your ID was stolen, right here’s what to anticipate

Sadly, id theft is on the rise in Canada. In 2023, over 11,000 instances of ID fraud have been reported to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre (CAFC). Fraud crimes are vastly underreported, so the whole is probably going a lot increased.

Identification theft is now not simply somebody combing by way of your paper mail for private data. That also occurs, however what’s extra doubtless now’s that your data is being stolen on-line by way of hacking or a phishing rip-off, the place you might be unknowingly giving a scammer private data. Right here’s what you must know—plus forestall additional ID theft.

What’s id theft?

Identification theft is when criminals steal your private or monetary data, like your social insurance coverage quantity (SIN), bank card quantity or checking account data, and use it to open new bank cards, apply for presidency advantages, make purchases, or entry your financial institution accounts and steal funds.

Beforehand, id thieves operated primarily by stealing envelopes from mailboxes and going by way of recycling bins to seek out delicate paperwork. However criminals have expanded deep into the digital world. They typically use synthetic intelligence (AI) to focus on tons of or hundreds of individuals on the similar time, impersonating a authorities or financial institution official utilizing telephone calls, texts or emails to “phish” for private data. Scammers additionally use refined digital instruments to hack accounts over public Wi-Fi, that means they will achieve entry to your financial institution accounts and extra. Anybody is usually a goal of id theft. 

The right way to report id theft in Canada

Should you suspect your id has been stolen, don’t look ahead to verification—report the crime to your native police. Should you imagine your SIN has been stolen, report this to Service Canada by calling 1-866-274-6627. You also needs to contact the CAFC so it might probably compile statistics on how prevalent this drawback is. Fill out data on-line within the Fraud Reporting System or contact the CAFC at 1-888-495-8501.

Then you must contact the Canadian credit score bureaus, together with Equifax, to allow them to flag your file and notify you if anybody tries to open a bank card or take out a mortgage in your title. Additionally pay shut consideration to your credit score scores and credit score experiences, additionally accessible by way of Equifax, for indicators of suspicious exercise.

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Equifax Full Safety

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Equifax Full Safety is a credit score and cybersecurity safety service designed to assist Canadians spot the indicators of id fraud sooner.

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It’s confirmed, your id has been stolen—now what?

As soon as your id has been stolen, you’re more likely to be focused once more. When scammers steal somebody’s id, they typically promote the information to a 3rd get together, who will attempt to contact the sufferer—they’re now seen as a simple goal for different crimes.

You might end up on the receiving finish of extra phishing scams from unsolicited numbers or faux financial institution staff. Plus, when you place protecting measures at your banks and credit score bureau, it might be tougher so that you can open a brand new account—you will have to undergo a number of verification checks. If the thief hurts your credit score rating by opening and utilizing bank cards, then it might even be difficult so that you can open new bank cards and apply for loans. And this could have an effect on your monetary life for a really very long time—probably years.