We’ve all heard the horror stories of someone in a commercial having their identity stolen because their house got robbed or they wore their Social Insurance Number on their T-shirt, but few of us have ever actually experienced identity theft in the real world. Most of us live our lives with the old saying “They can’t be me if I’m already me” because saying that is as comforting as it is completely useless. For those of us who realize that at any moment someone could metaphorically (or literally) wear your face and buy fancy new shoes by pretending to be you, there is a serious Fear to be considered. That Fear is of Identity Theft.
Fear of Identity Theft: Is it Really You?
Let’s say you are at a baseball game with some friends and one of them decides it would be a funny prank to put your credit card on public display via jumbo-tron. So everyone in the stadium sees your name and your credit card number. Funny joke, right? Hilarious. But that’s not the point. The fact is at least one person in that stadium is a deranged criminal. In fact, they are so deranged that they didn’t even notice the 200 foot screen that projected your information because they were too busy with a hand in someone’s man-purse instead. But! To that one person who hacked the stadiums’ feed and saw your information from the safety of their nest in the depths of their parents’ basement while playing Call of Duty, your identity is as good as gone. All they do is sit there and wait for this kind of thing to happen.
Less likely, but still a possibility, let’s pretend you are paying your bills online or doing some online shopping. You have no choice but to enter your personal information into those little box that you hope are secure. You might even chose to print off a physical copy of the transaction and then immediately throw it in the garbage. The morning of garbage collection, the garbage folk see the conveniently placed paper with all of your information on it and sell it to a drug lord who then sends you emails urgently telling you that you have inherited millions of dollars because a Prince has just died. Meanwhile, the Prince is very much alive and is currently driving around a brand new Mercedes courtesy of your banking information. You can see why Fear of Identity Theft makes sense.
Proving You Don’t Have a Fear of Identity Theft
What can you do about this though? Is there anything to protect yourself from someone else taking over your life and exploiting all of your earnings from your minimal wage job? Probably. But the point here is to acknowledge the fact that this kind of thing does happen and it’s something a lot of people Fear. So what can be done to help cope with the Fear? Taking basic precautions like not wearing your SIN on your shirt would be a start. Another would be using different passwords for things online because committed thieves give up after one login attempt. Or not inviting robbers into your house to look at your financial records. Things like that tend to help. Everyone should have at least 1 Prince on speed dial though just in case.