Identity Theft: A Normal Part of Life?

I'll never forget the first time I was blatantly robbed. Walking down a quiet residential street at twilight, I heard a motor cycle slowly approach. Its lights were off. Suddenly I felt a tug on the bag I was casually swinging at my side. My first thought was: My bag has accidentally caught the motorcycle's handle bars! But when the motorcycle quickly sped away, I realized that there had been nothing accidental about the loss of my bag.

I have experienced identity theft three times now - and each time, I feel as shocked and vulnerable as that time my purse was snatched.

I wrote a blog post about my other brush with identity theft - when someone applied for a credit card in my name - and left an unpaid debt behind. I am now amazed that this debt was associated with my credit rating. So much on the credit card application was not me: different address, maiden name, social insurance number, to name a few. Yet my credit rating was downgraded and I was in default. There are others with the same name. (Any google search will determine that.) Yet it took an uncomfortable week or so - and a lot of calls - to get everything sorted out again.)

My second brush with identity theft occurred when one of the stores I shop at had a security breach. My credit card company called to say that, to protect me, my card had been canceled but a new one would be issued.

Then a few weeks ago it happened again! Someone hacked my account at Apple - purchasing a music download which I was billed for. I discovered this when I received an email from Apple saying that changes had been made to my account: If I hadn't made these changes, I should change my password, which I promptly did. Nonetheless, a few hours later, I received a "receipt" for music purchased and downloaded. I quickly emailed the Itunes store to say that I had not made these purchases. Several hours later the money was refunded. But when I went onto my online account, I noticed that my answers to the security questions had been changed.

I was going to call this blog post: My Love-Hate Relationship With Apple... because the one thing I HATE about my ipod was that in order to use it (even to download free apps)  I had to provide Apple with credit card information. I tried to get around this - and, in fact, the most recent Apple rep I spoke to on the phone denies this is necessary. But I remember the frustrating week when I first got my ipod and was unsuccessfully trying to download free apps without it. I am again in a similar dilemma: In disabling anyone from purchasing from my account (a condition I agreed to) I now find I am unable to download free apps too, or make updates to free apps I do have. So I have to get that changed again!

The annoying thing about identity theft is the amount of time I've had to waste to clear up the problems and feel comfortable again. Most recently I spent half a day dealing with the problem when it first occurred. Then, a week later, a few more hours trying to get my security information "secure" again. Now trying to have my account set so that I can get free apps and updates.

I have also been told that Apple has disabled my credit card - but I would really like to be able to delete all record of it from their computer system. I've had a hard time doing that, too, but I think I've finally succeeded

(It would probably be wise to get credit card dedicated to internet purchases, so that if problems arose, one could simply cancel that card.)

I don't know if identity theft has become a normal part of everyday life for everyone these days -  but for me it definitely has! Fortunately I have always dealt with reputable companies - so they have been helpful in getting the problems sorted out. I would definitely avoid internet dealings with companies that have no reputation to protect.

Protect Yourself From Being Scammed: A FREE Online Resource

A number of years ago I experienced identity theft and wrote about it in a blog post. It takes a while to get over a breach of trust like that. I'm still amazed that it could have happened! And I still don't know exactly how it did.

Nowadays, with so much communication via phone or email, it is hard to know what's real and what isn't. A while back, for example, I got an email, purportedly from a cousin, saying she was stranded in England without money as she had been robbed... At first I didn't know what to think - so I called her home, several thousand miles away. She was at home - not in England. Her email account had been hacked and emails requesting money had been sent to everyone in her email address book.

Since these incidents I have become very cynical and assume almost everything is a scam. (Which is why, for example, when someone comes to my door canvassing for a cause I want to support, I write a check made out to that charity rather than give cash.) I view it as giving responsibly.

Why am I saying all this? Not to create a sense of paranoia - simply to pass on a a free online resource I just discovered, a government publication called: "The Little Black Book of Scams: Your Guide to Protection Against Fraud." I printed up a copy for myself.














It only has 19 pages, so it is well worth printing up a copy - although if I were to do it again, I wouldn't print up the cover page! Too much black ink wasted!


















It's a useful resource wherever you live as scams are international. Emails and phone calls come to us from around the world. (In fact, while I was typing this, the phone rang. Someone with an Indian accent said he was calling to tell us that our computer had a virus and he could fix it online... and I could pay for it by giving him my credit card information!)

I know it's a scam... I usually just hang up - though I'm tempted to say: I have no computer... What are you talking about?

Or maybe something like: A computer? What's a computer?!!

(Would the calls stop then?!) But it bothers me to lie... even though I know the person on the other end of the line is lying to me!

Identity Theft... Again

It's happened again - the second time 2 years... my "identity" has been stolen.

The first time, a credit card account was opened in my name by someone in another city. The person maxed out the card and didn't pay the bill. I only discovered this when I happened to open an account at the same financial institution several months later. If I hadn't opened that account, I might only have discovered my poor credit rating when trying to borrow money.

I am still amazed that it happened.

Credit bureaus have access to so much information - did a red flag not alert them to potential fraud when when I suddenly had a new address and social insurance number?

Apparently not. All the fraudsters needed was my name and my date of birth! The credit bureaus then changed my address to the one provided by the fraudster. I later had to send them "proof" that I was still living at my old address. (I wonder if they had to provide proof that I had moved.)

This second time, the scenario was a little different: I got a phone call from someone claiming to be from the fraud department of my credit card company. They wanted to discuss fraudulent activity on my account.

Can I call you back? I asked, certain that this was a hoax.

I quickly called the number on the back of my credit card to report the call. Had their fraud department called me?

Yes, they had. Call them right back.

When I did, the fraud investigator informed me that, although they couldn't give me details, a data base with my credit card information had been "compromised" - so I would need to get a new card.

Cut up that credit card right now, he said. But first I need to know your birth date and the pin number on the back of the card. I readily told him my birth date, but hesitated about the pin number.

I feel very vulnerable revealing it to you, I said.

Well, you just told me your birth date, he snapped back. That's just as dangerous! NEVER give out your birth date!

When I think of all the documents that have my date of birth on them - and how readily I have been conditioned to provide that infomation - I shouldn't be surprised that identity theft is so prevalent.

The RCMP's fraud webste at www.phonebusters.com states there were 7778 complaints in 2006, the year my first identity theft happened.

Now I have to keep reminding myself that my birth date is valuable information: I have to guard it with care.