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Identity Theft

Protect Yourself

New driver's licence meant to fight identity theft

By Kathryne Miller, myKawartha.com (December 8, 2007)

The provincial government has come up with a new driver's licence card that's designed to help prevent identity theft.

Drivers will receive the new card when they renew their licences, starting this month.

The card incorporates leading-edge security features such as laser engraved photo/signature/personal information, a fine line background, 2D barcode, micro and rainbow printing, secondary photo and signature images, and ultraviolet features.

The changes bring Ontario in line with new standards for North American driver's licences developed by the American Association of Motor Transport Administrators.

The card could also be enhanced in the future to include citizenship information.

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Cops bust 'credit card lab'

'Motherlode' of forgeries in Peel

By TOM GODFREY, TORONTO SUN (January 19, 2007)

Peel Regional Police smashed one of the largest counterfeit operations they have seen, seizing more than 8,000 blank and complete credit cards and forged Ontario drivers licences, health cards and TTC passes.

A 23-year-old Mississauga man is under arrest in what started off as a TTC probe into high-quality Metropasses being sold in Toronto schools and workplaces.

Detectives seized hundreds of assorted blank cards and dozens of social insurance and forged drivers licences -- many with the photos and names of people affixed.

'No one's immune' to ID theft

It's the fastest growing crime, and the fallout can be horrendous

By Jason van Rassel, CanWest News Service (January 18, 2007)

The crime is more prevalent than ever and drug users and petty criminals are getting in on the act, using decidedly low-tech methods such as mail theft and sifting through trash to steal personal information.

"No one's immune to this," said Const. Kathy Macdonald of the Calgary police crime prevention unit. "It runs the gamut between the simple opportunists . . . right up to the sophisticated organized crime groups."

A person's name, address, date of birth and financial information are valuable commodities in the criminal underworld, where they can be sold or traded or kept by a criminal.

In the U.S., it's estimated 10 million Americans have been victimized by identity theft at a cost of about $5 billion annually.

The difficulty in fighting identity theft is that it tends to go undetected until it's too late -- when fraudulent charges begin appearing on the victim's credit or bank statements.

Beware identity theft

It's the fastest growing crime, and the fallout can be horrendous

By LINDA LEATHERDALE (October 3, 2006)

They call it the theft that keeps on taking.

That's because once a thug steals your identity, and takes off with your hard-earned cash, even your home -- the crime doesn't end there.

Your credit rating can be ruined. Your home taken away. And you can be left stuck with a mortgage you never took out.

"Only in Ontario, is a victim victimized again and again," says Tory MPP Joe Tascona, who's tabled a private member's bill at Queen's Park, which he says goes far deeper to protect victims than a bill proposed by Government Services Minister Gerry Phillips.