You’re not alone; it’s a typical incidence to appreciate, typically lengthy after it’s occurred, that you simply’ve fallen sufferer to a rip-off or been a goal of ID theft in Canada. And it’s not too late to do one thing about it—ID thieves will typically wait months and even years after stealing private and monetary data earlier than utilizing it, to lull targets right into a false sense of safety.
What are the indicators of identification theft?
Many Canadians solely notice they’ve been a sufferer of identification theft weeks or months after it occurred. Listed here are a couple of indicators to pay attention to:
- Payments don’t arrive when they need to. This may very well be an indication that somebody has modified your mailing tackle and/or e-mail tackle.
- Your credit score rating has unexplained decreases, as a result of thieves have opened new bank cards in your identify with out making any funds.
- You see unusual purchases in your bank card invoice or unauthorized debits out of your checking account.
- You obtain unfamiliar mail, like payments for bank cards you didn’t apply for.
- You get calls from debt collectors about credit score that you simply by no means utilized for.
Should you discover these or different suspicious modifications, it’s potential your identification has been stolen.
What to do when you uncover ID theft
As quickly as you notice you’ve been a goal of identification theft—even when a whole lot of time has handed—report the crime to the police, your banks and lenders, the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre (CAFC), and Canada’s credit score bureaus, equivalent to Equifax Canada.
Crucial factor now’s to watch your credit score stories for suspicious exercise. Should you discover any new credit score inquiries and accounts or some other sudden modifications in your credit score stories, report it straight away. This may assist stop additional hurt to your credit score rating. You’ll have to stay vigilant and monitor your credit score carefully for a number of years, as fraudsters could proceed promoting your private and monetary data to others on the darkish internet (hidden web sites not accessible via common internet browsers).
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Equifax Full Safety
Equifax Full Safety is a credit score and cybersecurity safety service designed to assist Canadians spot the indicators of identification fraud sooner.
- Gives day by day credit score monitoring and alerts
- Scans in your private knowledge on the darkish internet
- Social media monitoring by business chief ZeroFox
Subscription value: $34.95 per 30 days
Credit score monitoring made simpler
A straightforward technique to monitor your credit score is to subscribe to Equifax FullTM Safety, an identification fraud safety service that can warn you to potential indicators of ID fraud. Anytime there’s a brand new credit score inquiry in your Equifax credit score report or a key change in your Equifax credit score rating, for instance, you’ll get an e-mail.
Equifax Full Safety additionally helps with preventive measures that may be troublesome to sort out your self. You’ll be able to configure the WebScan characteristic to go looking the darkish internet in your particular private knowledge and be alerted if it’s discovered. As well as, it displays your social media accounts for suspicious exercise together with scams, malicious content material, account impersonation, and inappropriate content material. And, if you’re a sufferer of ID fraud, Equifax Full Safety will assist you to restore your identification with a devoted Identification Restoration Specialist.
How frequent is identification theft in Canada?
Identification theft is a rising concern in Canada. The CAFC obtained over 11,000 stories of identification theft in 2023, however this crime is probably going considerably underreported—the true variety of victims is probably double and even triple that quantity.