Identity Theft - Austin Hudson by Austin Hudson

Intro

austinhudson3 — 2024-11-24 14:05:30 UTC

Welcome to my Padlet on Identity Theft. Identity Theft (also known as Identity Fraud) is where someone uses your personal information and usually commits some act of fraud. They could commit crimes and give you a false criminal record, they could obtain false lines of credit and rack up debt under your name, and much more. It is a really scary thing to think about because it could happen to anyone at any given time, and you may not know you are a victim for days, weeks, months or maybe even longer than that, and the rate at which it occurs in continuously growing. In this Padlet I hope you can learn much more about Identity Theft and some ways to avoid it.

Website #1

austinhudson3 — 2024-11-24 14:18:40 UTC

This website talks all about identity theft in great detail. It discusses, like other sources, what it is, how it happens, how you can prevent it, and examples of it. The website describes that identity theft is where somebody takes your personal information and commits act of fraud with it. These acts of fraud could be taking out lines of credit and rack up debt under your name, commit crimes and use your identity to get away with it but leave you under the bus to take the punishment, and so much more. What I like most about this website is how it has a bunch of Canadian sources and tips of what to do if you believe you are a victim of identity theft. You could almost use it as a checklist to help you make a report. It goes through who to report to and how to report it, places and people to contact, etc.

Website #2

austinhudson3 — 2024-11-24 14:19:29 UTC

This website is information directly from the government of Canada. This website specifically I chose because it shares the proper countermeasures you should be taking to ensure you do not become a victim of identity theft, and this information is coming straight from the Canadian government, therefore it is the best possible advice you can receive. Following this advice as much as possible could significantly decrease your chances of becoming a victim to identity theft. Some huge points from this source that stood out to me that I wanted to share are that you should never keep your SIN on your persons or use it as a piece of ID unless you NEED to, never provide personal information through media or emails, and be careful when clicking on thinks from emails or text messages.

Website #3

austinhudson3 — 2024-11-24 14:20:52 UTC

This website is very unique compared to the other sources I have chosen. I chose this website because it is the exact Canadian law of what is considered to be identity theft in Canada, and not just a generic definition, which is what makes it so much different from the other sources I have used. This website describes in detail what is considered to be identity theft, punishments for the crime, and other little details related to the crime. It tells you this thing is considered identity theft, and that thing is not. This type of information could be useful to clear up any confusion on the topic. I found it unique to all my other sources because those sources were telling me what it is, which is accurate, but it was interesting to read on the exact law itself.

Website #4

austinhudson3 — 2024-11-24 14:22:34 UTC

This website is emphasized on how to spot identity fraud if you are being a victim of it. You don't wake up every day and your first thought consist of wondering if you are a victim of identity fraud. It is not easy to know if you are a victim of identity fraud, which is where this website comes in to help. This website tells you what to look for, where to look for it, and what to do if you are a victim. Methods such as checking your credit reports, making sure your passwords are unique and difficult to guess, making sure you don't have any missing mail from your mail box, and other methods could all potentially save you from becoming a victim of identity fraud. If you find that you are falling victim to it, there are lists of people to call the ensure you can get the situation sorted out. I really like how this website emphasized on spotting the signs of identity fraud, as it could be incredibly useful for someone who is concerned.

Video #1

austinhudson3 — 2024-11-24 14:32:39 UTC

The first video I have chosen is a video of a police constable explaining Identity Fraud. In this video he talks about the types of personal identification that can be stolen (such as your name, address, date of birth and passwords), what types of identity fraud there are, and how you can protect yourself. This was an incredible video as he went into a lot of detail about this crime.

The one thing that stuck out to me compared to other sources is the large variety of personal information that could potentially be stolen. Usually your name, address and date of birth are commonly used as examples of personal information that could be stolen but this video showed that there are so many other pieces of personal information that could just as easily be stolen from you.

Video #2

austinhudson3 — 2024-11-24 14:41:29 UTC

This was a huge eye opening video. This video not only explained what identity theft is very well but it really emphasized on how your personal information can be easily stolen, which is what I find unique about this video compared to my other sources. It talked about how they could get access to your information by dumpster diving or even stealing your mail. This video really explained how there are so many different ways for someone to steal your piece of information and that you have to take care of your information properly to avoid it ending up in the wrong hands of someone.

Image #1

austinhudson3 — 2024-11-24 14:58:05 UTC

This image is a graph of Canadian data showing the rate of Identity Fraud per 100000 Canadian residence from 2010 until 2023. As you can see in the graph, the rate at which identity theft is occurring has significantly increased over the years. In 2021 we can see the highest spike at approximately 62 people per 100000 Canadian residents, and since then it has decreased to about 52 people per 100000 Canadian citizens, which is still high.

Image #2

austinhudson3 — 2024-11-24 15:30:23 UTC

This image shares a few signs that you could be a victim of identity theft. Some of these signs include not receiving your mail, random withdrawals from your bank, and more. Something this image taught me is that someone could take all of or use your benefit money, which is obviously another horrible situation to be put it because if you have medical conditions that require expensive medications, you will have to pay that out of pocket.

Video #3

austinhudson3 — 2024-11-24 16:05:04 UTC

This quick video discusses the overall types of identity theft. The other sources I found talk about identity theft generally, with like a big umbrella of general information on identity theft. This video shares a bunch of different types of identity theft with a quick explanation. We generally know identity theft as someone stealing another persons information to commit acts of fraud (financially, medically, etc), well there are more specific types of identity theft that go along with what a criminal chooses to do with someone else's identity. For example: criminal identity theft is where somebody uses another persons identity in order to escape charges or consequences. An example of this would be if John Smith commits a crime, he then poses as the identity of Bill Green. Well now John Smith gets to walk away free whereas Bill Green is being arrested and charged for a crime he had nothing to do with, and then has to live the rest of his life with a criminal record he had no involvement in.

Video #4

austinhudson3 — 2024-11-24 16:05:18 UTC

This video is another video talking about identity theft, what it is, and the impacts it has. The video emphasized heavily on how impactful being a victim to identity theft can be to your life. Whether they commit financial, medical, criminal, or other types of identity fraud on you, it will still negatively impact you significantly and that is why taking proper countermeasures to avoid your personal information being exposed is so important. A point mentioned in the video that really stood out for me was that the damage done by the criminal could take longer to repair or fix than the time it took for the criminal to do the damage. This is very eye opening to me because for the person stealing your identity they could do something life changing under your name is 5 minutes, and where it took them 5 minutes to do that, it could take months or years to fix that damage done.

Reflective Questions

austinhudson3 — 2024-11-24 16:06:22 UTC

Researching Identity Theft I actually learned a lot of new things that I am glad I am aware of now. Before this assignment I had a generic idea of what it was but after my research I feel very well educated on the topic. The biggest thing I learned that I found interesting was Criminal Identity Theft, where somebody could use your identity to get away with a crime they commited, therefore pinning the crime on you and leaving you with the consequences, whereas the most important thing I learned was how to protect myself from becoming a victim of Identity Theft, and the scary impact it could have on you if you become a victim of it.
Recently my grandmother had her wallet stolen with a bunch of important personal information in it. Obviously, that is a huge thing and it sucks to think that someone has access to such important information. It affected me because I was obviously upset for her. Having all of the stuff in her wallet stolen like that is obviously very upsetting to hear. Thankfully she was able to cancel all her debit/credit cards before any money was to be tampered with, but the individual still has access to some other important information that could definitely be used for identity theft. It has been a few weeks since the incident and so far nothing has happened, but after doing research about identity theft throughout this project I am for sure going to inform her more about it just incase she doesn't know much about the topic, so that she can be prepared if she were to be a victim of it, or keep her personal information safe, and monitor her money to ensure it is not being tampered with.
As stated in the previous question I would definitely inform my grandmother about the topic, however in general I would inform many more friends and family about the topic because the more who are aware of it, the better. It does not hurt to spread awareness on serious topics, especially ones that are happening thousands of times to many people daily. To me the most important thing to share would be "hey, identity theft is a real thing that negatively impacts so many people, here are a few simple things you can do to prevent yourself from being victim to it". I made them aware of identity fraud, and I tell them what they can do to protect themselves. My 2 big tips would be to 1. be aware of where your personal information is and who could possibly have access to it, and 2. have strong, unique passwords for your accounts.