Too good to be true

Do you know how frustrating it is to get all these junk mails of advertisements and fraud? Especially the fraud. If you are not careful, you can easily find yourself a victim of the increasingly common identity fraud.

After all, all they need is a name and possibly some basic information such as your date of birth or social insurance number to tap into a wide pool of resources which can potentially reveal even more information about you. They can find out your address from the yellow pages, run credit checks on you and even set up fake accounts using your personal information. In the end, they will leave your credit destroyed and a bunch of debts under your name. Are you afraid yet? You should be.

Unfortunately, one of the reason why these criminal acts are increasing in numbers is because of the slack punishments in place for offenders. Consider this, in Canada, you can walk into a bank with a gun and get a few hundred dollars. If you get caught, you will face 4 to 12 years imprisonment. Impersonate someone at the same bank, steal $100,000 and you will likely get away with it, but if you are apprehended, you will get a severe slap on the wrist. Can you honestly blame these new age criminals for making a mockery out of privacy laws and the justice system?

Now, there are many traps including fake ids, checks, bank drafts and currencies, but what can we do to avoid becoming a victim?

1. NEVER give out your Social Insurance/Social Security #.
2. NEVER disclose your credit card, check routing information or bank information
3. NEVER believe that you have to pay to get winnings or get some benefits.

For websites, you can check where it is created and when at WHOISNET. You should also make it a point to confirm who you are talking to and the information you are given. Even when they have sent you checks or bank drafts, they could be clever imitations of the real and you could be committing a felony just by attempting to cash in.

Finally, though it is difficult to guard against scam artists, sometimes you can make it hard enough for them to back off in search of an easier target. So be careful and smart. Usually it is the ignorant or greedy that end up victims in these schemes.

And remember: "If it seems too good to be true...... it usually is."