Real estate title fraud often involves identity theft. According to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, identity theft is the unauthorized collection and use of your personal information.
Personal information falling into the wrong hands allows your personal information to be used to:
The following types of personal information should be safeguarded at all times. Hence never provide any of this information to any one you do not know and especially over the Internet. In fact you should shred all paper with any of this information on it before you dispose of it:
Several indicators serve as warning signs for potentially fraudulent activity. The basic rule is that if it sounds wrong or too good to be true, then it is probably someone trying to rip you off. Some items to keep an eye out for:
With a little work and paying attention to details most people can avoid identity theft and real estate fraud. Always be vigilant and never let your guard down.
In our next post we will cover some of the things you can do to protect yourself from identity theft and title insurance fraud. There is a huge difference between being paranoid, vs. just keeping an eye on your personal details and following a few simple rules outlined in this series of blogs. Some people believe that it will never happen to them, or who would want their identity. All they need is a few bits of information and someone intent on committing fraud can quickly build up a persona based on your name. Once they have done that, there is no end to the amount of financial damage they can to your financial affairs.
If you have suggestions or would like to leave a comment please do so. We will add them to our blog if they make sense and are not considered spam. Personal stories about fraud and what you learned throughout the process are welcome so that we can help others avoid this increasing situation.
Stay tuned for the next post, were we will talk about how to protect yourself from identity theft and real estate fraud!
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I have not been hit by identity theft yet and hope I do not. This is a really good article to help prepare and avoid being a victim of identity theft