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What we learned most from researching this topic was how it easy it is for identity theft to occur, and how much work a person should be putting into protecting their identity. There are now so many ways for a person to get a hold of just enough personal information to cause you great harm. All of us need to keep in mind the steps we should be taking each day to protect ourselves; such as, choosing difficult to guess passwords and changing them often, shredding documents before discarding them, only purchasing from legitimate websites with verified security measures, and never giving out information to someone who contacts you requesting it.

We found this relevant because each of us has the potential to have our identities stolen and our lives upturned. To get by in regular society one must have at least a name; and in order to work or get a bank account one must have a social insurance number; and to have access to health care in Ontario one must have an OHIP card. If these are compromised, a person could have an impossible time getting by, especially if things get so out of control that your bank accounts are frozen while you’re trying to prove you are you, and ‘they’ are not you. We have known people who have had their credit cards copied and then used for unauthorized purchases, and even one person who had a huge legal battle after someone impersonated them at a bank and was able to do a property title transfer. These examples serve as a stark reminder of the importance of protecting one’s identity.

Researching this topic has been very interesting. We have learned that because of the high occurrences of fraud there is an entire business around ‘credit monitoring’ which people are paying for each month to help protect themselves. We have to wonder though, if fraudulent activity is reported as costing upwards of 30 billion dollars each year, why wouldn’t the banks and insurance companies be offering this service for free instead of at a charge to consumers? One would think that providing this service would end up saving them, but it seems as though there is always people ready to capitalize off things such as this.

This topic encouraged us to get our free credit reports from Equifax to ensure there is no fraudulent activity associated with our names, and to continue to be vigilant about protecting our identities.

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"Identity Thief" is a 2013 comedy movie about one man's experience dealing with having his identity stolen. It is in no way recommended to handle a real world identity theft case in this manner. (For entertainment purposes only)

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Identity Thief Official Trailer #2 (2013) - Jason Bateman, Melissa McCarthy Movie HD

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(Bonus Video) This video is about what to do in the case of identity theft. It was made by the Bank of America, so it has American references; however most of what is said can be directly translated to the Canadian system

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(Video #3)
In this video, presented by Equifax, we hear about the importance of our identities to secure a job, access to healthcare, and gain credit; and that having it compromised can make our lives quite difficult. The tips of ensuring you don't carry your SIN card on you or give out the number, and to never give out personal information over the phone, email, or online unless you've initiated contact were helpful. We were surprised to hear on this video that fraud offences, including identity theft, costs between 15 to 30 billion dollars each year!

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Equifax Canada offers tips on preventing Identity Theft

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(Video #2)
This video is an interview with a man from Consolidated Credit Counselling Services of Canada. He discuses with CBC some signs to watch out for, such as receiving mail or phone calls from collection agencies for bills that aren't yours, and approvals (or denials) of credit applications that you did not make. An important tip is to not use passwords that can be guessed by another, and to frequently changes passwords.
It is interesting to note, the Canadian Anti-Fraud Center has been receiving quite an increase in complaints more recently, which is likely due to both the amount of personal information people put out there in the world, and the lack of security measures that people take to protect it.

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Consolidated Credit Counseling Services of Canada

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Identifying and preventing identity theft

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Thousands of Canadians are the victim of identity theft every year. Jeffrey Schwartz is the Executive Director of Consolidated Credit Counseling Services of Canada, and he explains how to recognize and prevent becoming a victim

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(Video #1)
This was made by The Bank of Canada. It features some people acting out potential scenarios that a person could face in regards to identity theft. It offers some tips to avoid identity theft, such as having a trusted person pick up your mail if you'll be away, always shredding documents with personal information on them before discarding them, and installing anti-spyware and anti-virus software on your computer.
We found the tip about online phishing scams to be a helpful reminder about not replying to emails looking for personal information. This can be tricky because these emails can be designed to look identical to legitimate companies, but remember, no legitimate company will contact you through email requesting any personal information.

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Produced by the BANK OF CANADA in March 2008 as a means to heighten awareness and educate their customers. Please visit the Bank of Canada's web site for more crime fighting information. http://www.bank-banque-canada.ca/en/video_corp/dbo/dvd_fraud.html

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(Picture #3)
The idea of a telephone scammer is to target somebody using fear tactics and then extending an olive branch by suggesting that you are the only one who can help solve their problem. There have been news stories recently about scammers that try to target the elderly by calling and suggesting that they are from the Canada Revenue agency and that the elderly person owes a certain amount of money in taxes. The scammer then tries to obtain a credit card number and other personal information. They often try to scare the person into thinking that they have no choice but to pay right now and over the phone. What makes this even worse is that these fraudsters have the capability to make the  call display on a home phone show whatever they want. There is actually an App that is available for most smart phones called "Caller ID Faker" that will let anybody do this. This all being said, another way that thieves try to steal information is by calling you at your home and using fear so you willingly give up your personal information over the telephone.

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(Picture #2)
This image is a little bit of an exaggeration of how exactly this is done considering the security measures on identification. But that isn't to say that it actually happens. If you think about it, most often when you lose any piece of identification, and you want to replace it, you are asked to show some form of photo identification in order to prove you are who you say you are. So if you lose your drivers license, all somebody has to do is find a look alike to start getting more pieces of identification. For example if a non-Canadian fraudster had an Ontario drivers license that looked like them, they could go to Service Ontario and ask for a new health card. Now they have a health card and access to medical services in Canada (Medical Fraud). They could then go to a Service Canada location and get a SIN card and Passport. With those four pieces of identification they fraudster could do anything that the proper owner of the identification could do including sign up for credit cards, bank loans or mortgages!

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Since more people do their shopping online, this also means that people are inputting more of their personal information online. With this, they are hoping that the website or e-store is using a robust enough security measure that protects their information from hackers. In recent history there have been stories of large companies, or swaths of small companies that use the same financial institutions who have had their customer information compromised. Since these large institutions are often housing thousands of customers personal information they become a rife target for hackers who want to obtain that information for further use in fraudulent activities. Even though digital security measures are increasing, it seems as though for now hackers will continue to find ways to steal credit card information. That is of course until we (as humanity) can create a functioning quantum computing system. But that's not what this assignment is about!

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Canadian Criminal Code and Identity Fraud

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Canadian Criminal Code and Identity Fraud

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(Website #3)
This is a link to the Canadian Criminal Code Section 403 that specifically outlines identity theft and the punishments in Canada. The definition of identity theft had been described in a couple other posts on this wall; however, it seems the Criminal Code defines identity fraud as "Everyone commits an offence who fraudulently personates another person, living or dead" and then goes on to list some of the specific circumstances. Most of the circumstances suggest that a person needs to personate with the 'intent'. I think this is an important distinction, since it is possible to open an account under another persons name and have absolutely no idea this is happening. For example, I have the same name as one of my parents and when I was living at home the only distinguishing information between us was the our birth date. We have had situations where our cell phone plan was under the other persons name because the person who set up the account at the store didn't pay close enough attention that the person standing in front of them was a 50 year old instead of an 18 year old. So in that case there certainly was no intent to steal my identity, it was just a product of a culmination of circumstances that were out of the persons control.
The Criminal code also outlines the punishment for anybody that commits identity fraud in Canada (with intent) as serving no more than 10 years in prison if found guilty and convicted.

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Marginal note:Identity fraud

(1) Everyone commits an offence who fraudulently personates another person, living or dead,

(a) with intent to gain advantage for themselves or another person;

(b) with intent to obtain any property or an interest in any property;

(c) with intent to cause disadvantage to the person being personated or another person; or

(d) with intent to avoid arrest or prosecution or to obstruct, pervert or defeat the course of justice.

Marginal note:Clarification

(2) For the purposes of subsection (1), personating a person includes pretending to be the person or using the person's identity information - whether by itself or in combination with identity information pertaining to any person - as if it pertains to the person using it.

Marginal note:Punishment

(3) Everyone who commits an offence under subsection (1)

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(Website #2)
This website  is on the RCMP website and breaks down a general definition of identity theft including the methods of how identity thieves go about obtaining your personal information.
More specifically, the definition the RCMP provides for identity theft is "The actual deceptive use of the identity information of another person (living or dead) in connection with various frauds. (including for example personating another person and misuse of debit card or credit card data)."
Some of the ways that people fraudulently obtain personal information could be as simple as "dumpster diving", which can include pulling information from the garbage or mail. It can also consist of more sophisticated methods like elaborate computer networks designed to obtain specific types of personal information such as name, date of birth, SIN numbers, address, mothers maiden names, usernames and passwords etc.

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Identity Theft and Identity Fraud - Royal Canadian Mounted Police

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In 2009, the CACF received identity fraud reports from 11,095 Canadian victims, totaling a loss of more than 10 million dollars. This represents an increase of more than 1 million dollars of what was reported in 2008. Payment card fraud was the most commonly reported incident, and yet, many instances of identity theft and fraud go unreported.

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(Website #1)
This website has a great section that breaks down and explains financial identity theft including what you should do and how you can prevent financial identity theft. Most of the information refers to "Social Security Number" but it should be noted that since we live in Canada you should mentally replace that term with "Social Insurance Number". All of the information is relevant in Canada.
To summarize the website; financial identity theft is mostly related to a person having money stolen or credit obtained by the fraudulent use of their identification by sombody else. It recommends to file a report with the police if you believe you are a victim of identity theft and  to contact your financial institution as soon as possible. It suggest that you review your bank/credit card statements regularly and to regularly obtain a copy of your credit report as ways to prevent identity theft from happening.

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Equifax | Credit Bureau | Check Your Credit Report & Credit Score

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Get credit reports and credit scores for businesses and consumers from Equifax today! We also have identity protection tools with daily monitoring and alerts

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Identity theft is considered to be the use of another's personally identifying information without their permission to commit fraud or other crimes. Some types of identity theft are: Financial, Insurance, Medical, Criminal, Drivers License, Social Security, Synthetic and Child identity theft.
This assignment will focus more on the financial identity theft; including how it's done, what effects it has and what is being done to prevent it.
In the ever increasingly digital world combined with the ease at which our personal information is posted and traded online, it seems as though identity theft won't disappear any time soon.