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This article was sent to me via email from Tony Santoro.
He is a Financial Advisor, and Life Insurance Agent with Keybase
Financial Group. Tony can be reached at tsantoro@keybase.com
Make a copy for your files, you may need to refer to
it someday. It’s good advice. A corporate attorney
sent the following out to the employees in his company:
• The next time you order cheques have
only your initials (instead of first name) and last name put
on them. If someone takes your Cheque Book they will not know
if you sign your cheques with just your Initials or your First
Name, but your Bank will know how you sign your cheques.
• When you are writing cheques to pay
on your Credit Card Accounts, DO NOT put the complete account
number on the "For" line. Instead, just put the LAST
FOUR NUMBERS. The Credit Card Company knows the rest of the
number and anyone who might be handling your cheque as it passes
through all the cheque processing channels won't have access
to it.
• Put your work phone # on your cheques
instead of your home phone. If you have a P.O. Box - use that
instead of your home address. NEVER have your Social Security
number printed on your cheques.
•Place the contents of your Wallet on
a photocopy machine, do BOTH Sides of EACH License, Credit Card,
etc. You will then know what you had in your wallet and ALL
of the ACCOUNT Numbers and PHONE Numbers to call and Cancel.
Keep the Photocopy in a Safe Place.
• Carry a PHOTOCOPY of your PASSPORT
when you travel!
We've all heard horror stories about fraud that's committed
on us in stealing a name, address, Social Security number, credit
cards, etc. We have been told we should cancel our credit cards
immediately. But the key is having the toll free numbers and
your card numbers handy so you know whom to call.
Keep those where you can find them easily.
• File a police report immediately in
the jurisdiction where it was stolen. This proves to Credit
Providers you were diligent, and is a first step toward an investigation.
HERE'S what is perhaps MOST IMPORTANT:
CALL the THREE NATIONAL CREDIT REPORTING Organizations
IMMEDIATELY to place a FRAUD ALERT on Your Name and Social Security
number.
We had never heard of doing this until we heard the story of
a customer who was advised by a bank, that an “Application
for Credit” was made over the Internet in their name!
The alert means any company that checks your credit knows your
information was stolen and they have to contact you by phone
to authorize new credit.
The important numbers are:
Equifax Canada: (Your Credit File): 1-800-465-7166
Experian: (formerly TRW): 1-888-397-3742
Trans Canada Credit: 416-465-7166
In Canada Contact: Human Resources Development Canada
1-800-206-7218
Thanks for sharing all of the above Tony! It’s important
that we are prepared, and hopefully we never need to use your
information.
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