Do You Know How to Protect Your Personal Information?

Published May 30, 2018 at 2:14 am

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Does it seem like all you’ve been hearing about in the news lately is data breaches? After the recent BMO/CIBC data breaches, the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada (FCAC) released these suggestions to lower the risk of harm.

  • Change your passwords immediately to ensure that your private information does not end up in the hands of the public (try to choose passwords that have multiple upper and lower case letters, numbers, and symbols to make it harder for hackers to access your information)

  • Review your bank account and credit card statements on a regular and frequent basis to make sure they are accurate and do not contain unauthorized transactions

  • Report any unauthorized transactions immediately to your financial institution

  • Order and review your credit report immediately. If there are accounts that you don’t recognize or are suspicious, it could mean that someone is using your identity to apply for a credit card, line of credit, mortgage or other loans.

 If you become a victim of fraud

  • Contact your bank and any other company (such as retail stores, websites, and service sectors) where you think your account may have been compromised as soon as possible

  • Contact Canada’s two credit bureaus, Equifax and TransUnion and ask them to place a fraud alert on your credit report file to tell lenders to contact you and confirm your identity before they approve any applications for credit

  • File a report with the police

  • Notify the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre (1-888-495-8501)

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