Reporting Identity Theft in Canada

While so many of us cannot imagine having our identities stolen, it is an unfortunate reality for millions of people around the world every year. If you have the bad fortune to be a victim of identity theft, there are several things you have to do right away. There are agencies to whom you have to report the crime in order to protect yourself and make it possible to catch the criminal. These include:

• Your credit card company. Call the toll-free number immediately, at any time, to report your card stolen. This will allow the credit card company to monitor your account for unauthorized activity, and it will limit the liability you may carry for t hose charges. They may need to cancel your account and issue you new cards.
  
  
• Contact your credit bureau. You only need to contact one of the three major credit bureaus. Tell them what has happened, and ask for a fraud alert to be placed on your credit file. This will let them know to be alert for suspicious reports.
  
  
• Contact your bank. If your ATM or debit card has been stolen, or the account number has been used, or if your cheques or chequing account number have been stolen, your bank will need to stop payment on those accounts immediately. Your account may have to be closed to prevent further illegal activity on it.
  
  
• Call the police. Identity theft is a crime, and law-enforcement authorities need to know about it. This is especially true if you have had mail stolen from your mailbox or from your trash, since it means that the culprit must be somebody fairly local. Be aware that investigations are usually prioritized by the amount of money the victim has lost, so try to have as complete a picture of your loss as possible when you call.
  
  
• File a report with your federal agency. In Canada, this agency is PhoneBusters, the central clearing site of all scam and fraud information. They can be reached at www.phonebusters.com. You can also report to RECOL, or Reporting Economic Crime Online if you have been defrauded through the computer, at www.recol.ca.com.
  
  
• Contact any agency or business that is trying to collect an unauthorized debt from you. Make sure they understand that you are not responsible for this debt and that they will not get any money from you.

Obviously, recovering from identity theft is a long and complex process, which is one of the things that makes this crime so damaging. Months, sometimes years, are spent on trying to reestablish a person’s credit, while creditors sometimes do not take no for an answer and businesses absorb the costs and pass them on to others. Two final tips should help you navigate this process.

Remember to get everything in writing. Every promise, every arrangement, every conversation should be recorded in writing, and all phone calls and emails should be backed up by letters. And finally, remember that you didn’t do anything wrong, and you should not have to pay a cent for a crime that you didn’t commit.

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