Daily Archives: 12/14/2007

ID THEFT

Capital One has released the results of its latest annual identity theft
survey
providing insight on how Canadian consumers habitually protect themselves
from identity theft. Among these habits, the Capital One survey has
revealed
that 65% of consumers do not regularly review their own credit reports,
52% believe all credit bureaus share all information and 33% felt that
alerting
the police is not necessary in the event of identity theft.
Subsequently, the
bank is recommending several measures be taken to protect themselves.
Among these recommendations, Capital One suggests not leaving the
signature box on the back of their cards blank, secure account numbers,
secure PIN numbers, keep all receipts, purchase retail goods from only
secure websites and maintaining paper account statements for future
reference.
If a consumer does find that they have already become a victim of ID
theft,
the bank encourages the consumer to contact all credit bureaus to receive a
fraud alert, file a police report and to cancel any card for which a
criminal
may have information. Capital One has provided consumers with Mastercard
products since 1996.