Sidestep scams and protect your identity to stop fraud

When someone uses deception to achieve personal or financial gain, that’s fraud. It can happen over the phone, door to door, by mail, email or text message, or on the internet – and it includes identity theft, which uses personal information for criminal purposes.

Beyond feeling embarrassed, fraud victims may experience significant financial losses and, if their credit reports are affected, they may have restricted access to credit cards, loans, lines of credit and mortgages. However, there are many things you can do to prevent fraud – and reporting it can help minimize the damage.

A “phishing” email or text message pretends to be from a legitimate company requesting personal or financial information. It may look very convincing, complete with company colours and logos. It often asks you to click a link and then enter personal, financial or password information. Know that Manulife Bank will never request personal, financial or password information in an unsolicited email or text message. If you ever want to confirm that a message from Manulife Bank is legitimate, call us.

If something sounds either too good or too bad to be true, question it. It isn’t likely that a Nigerian prince would contact you for help transferring money. It’s equally improbable that the Canada Revenue Agency would arrest you the moment they discovered a tax filing mistake. Yet both of these scams have worked in the past. If you ever wonder if an offer or threat is real, call the organization itself using a number you look up. 

Don’t share personal information in response to an unsolicited inquiry. Even when you’re initiating a relationship – say, signing up for a store’s points program – ask:

• Why do you need this information?
• How will it be used?
• Who will have access to it?
• How will it be protected?

Unless it’s required by law, avoid giving out your social insurance number (SIN). There are often other forms of identification you can use instead.

When you know how criminals think and act, you can better protect yourself.

To get your personal information, a criminal may:

• Steal your wallet or purse, containing your identification, credit cards and bank cards
• Steal your mail, including your credit card and bank account statements, pre-approved credit offers, new cheques and tax information
• Complete a “change of address” form and divert your mail to another location
• Rummage through your personal or business trash
• Pose as a landlord or employer and request your credit report
• Find personal information you shared on the Internet

With your personal information, a criminal may:

• Change the mailing address on your credit card account and run up charges you never see
• Open a new credit card using your name, date of birth and SIN, and use it without paying the bills
• Establish phone service in your name, and use it without paying the bills
• Open a bank account in your name and write bad cheques
• Use counterfeit cheques or debit cards to access the funds in your bank account

Treat your personal information like it’s valuable – because it is. To keep it as safe as possible:

• Carry only what you need in your wallet or purse
• Keep everything else – especially your social insurance number (SIN), passport and birth certificate – in a safe place
• Remove mail promptly from your mailbox
• Shred mail and documents that contain your personal, account or investment information before tossing them out
• Check your credit report annually with the following:
  • TransUnion Canada;
    • 1-800-663-9980 (for service in English)
    • 1-877-723-3393 (for service in French)
  • Equifax Canada;
    
    • 1-800-465-7166
• Stay safe online

Fraud often goes unreported – but when you reach out you can minimize losses and help prevent others from becoming victims. Call us if you experience any of these telltale signs of fraud:

• You see transactions you did not make on your bank account or credit card statements
• You stop receiving statements altogether
• A creditor tells you your application for credit was received – but you never applied
• A collection agency tells you you’re in default on an account you didn’t open

You may also want to contact:

• Your provincial/territorial ministry of transportation if your driver’s licence and vehicle licence are compromised
• Your local passport office if your passport is compromised
• Employment and Social Development Canada if your social insurance number is compromised