Mike Roberts
Province
The real David William Caldwell, a 38-year-old highrise construction worker, did not request a credit card in Tennessee, apply for loans in Toronto and Montreal or order three cellphone plans from Bell Mobility.
No, the real David William Caldwell was at home in Vancouver, kicking himself for leaving his wallet on the car seat.
Caldwell is a victim of identity theft, the fastest growing crime in North America. Last year, 13,359 Canadians fell prey to identity thieves, criminals who steal personal information to commit theft or fraud. (To the tune of $2.5 billion annually in Canada).
Fortunately, says Caldwell, he was “a poor man with $26 in my bank account” when his wallet was stolen in 2000. His monetary losses were negligible, but the time and energy he’s spent reclaiming his identity have gobbled up months of his life. “I thought everything was OK, it was a dormant volcano,” he says. “Two years later, it erupted again, it’s been going on for years.”
So common is the crime of identity theft, that the major banks and credit card companies have begun offering fee-for-service protection for consumers who don’t relish the prospect of a lifetime spent restoring reputations and credit ratings.
But some vested parties — including victim David Caldwell and the Better Business Bureau’s Valerie McLean — believe the new services are an unnecessary consumer expense, marketing ploys preying on public paranoia around identity theft.
The Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce was first out of the gate in Canada, offering a personalized, credit bureau monitoring service for $14.99 a month.
CIBC’s Credit Alert service monitors a customer’s file at Canada’s two credit bureaus, TransUnion and Equifax. When it detects unusual activity or changes, the customer is notified by e-mail.
“The most important thing they get is the active fraud monitoring,” says Bob Atkinson, a senior manager with CIBC’s card products division. “That’s the value.”
When asked why this service is not being made freely available to bank customers already shelling out double- and triple-digit dollars each month in questionable service charges, Atkinson sites setup and operating costs.
“There are lots of people kicking the tires,” he says. “People are getting it, testing it for a while. Some are keeping it, some are cancelling it, and that’s fine.”
But McLean, manager for the B.C. Better Business Bureau, says the banks are capitalizing on the “hot issue” of identity theft.
“Businesses are always going to try to offer something that they think people want, but why pay for something you can do yourself for free?” says McLean. “You don’t need to pay.
“You can get your credit report for free in Canada, and you can do it as often as you want,” adds McLean. “You can take precautions, easy precautions, to avoid identity theft.” (See sidebar).
McLean says $15 a month is “going to add up,” and believes the Credit Alert service fosters unnecessary fear. “If you take basic, basic precautions, I’m not even going to worry about someone monitoring my account daily,” she says.
Caldwell says there’s “no way” he’d spend $15 a month on a credit-monitoring service. “If I was a complete idiot and didn’t know what to do, maybe,” he says.
Caldwell suggests consumers obtain their own credit bureau reports once every year and scrutinize their files.
“You’ve got to keep up on it, and it’s a citizen’s job to do that,” he says.
Adds McLean: “Smart consumers won’t have their identities stolen, it won’t happen.”
10 TIPS
1. Protect, use and change passwords and PINs wherever you can.
2. Pre-approved credit cards and blank credit company cheque mail-outs are prime pickings for identity thieves; visit the Canadian Marketing Association online at www.the-cma.org and put yourself on the Don’t Mail, Don’t Call, Don’t Fax and Don’t E-mail lists. Within six to eight weeks, virtually all addressed junk mail, telemarketing and electronic marketing will cease.
3. Invest in a $20 paper shredder for your home and be mindful of what personal information gets dumped in the trash.
4. Update computer operating and anti-virus software regularly; install a computer firewall.
5. Get a locking mailbox.
6. Clean out your glovebox.
7. Don’t respond to unsolicited phone calls or e-mails requesting card numbers, account information and/or passwords, even if they appear to originate with legitimate companies. Phone the company if you’re really unsure. Delete unsolicited e-mails; go into your “delete box” and delete them again because many contain viruses designed to worm out your personal information.
8. Photocopy the front and back of all of your debit and credit cards in case they are ever lost or stolen.
9. Don’t write your PINs on the back of cards or on bits of paper carried in your wallet.
10. Don’t carry your SIN card in your wallet, and carry only credit cards and identification you need on a daily basis.
© The Vancouver Province 2004
