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Identity theft expert to lecture |
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Written by FRANK PEEBLES
Citizen staff
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Monday, 12 May 2008 |
An expert in identity theft will be in Prince George today and Wednesday to talk to the public about the latest form of fraud that often hits people without them even knowing until it is too late.
Gerry MacKinnon is a B.C.-based former Mountie, who now works with PPL Legal Care of Canada, an organization which claims to be the only one in the country who will do the work to find the breeches in your identity and fill the holes for you. He will speak at the Prince George Aboriginal Business Development Association today before moving over to the Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday. Both days there are a pair of two-hour sessions available: 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. or 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.
MacKinnon will also travel to Quesnel on Wednesday night, where he will give a workshop at the Best Western Tower.
MacKinnon said there are a few ways identity thieves target people. They go after credit card and other bank information in order to steal your money; they will use your driver's licence; they will use your Social Insurance Number; they will use your character (based on stolen data) to pose as you, the legitimate citizen, to do illegal things in your name.
"You're never going to stop identification breech," MacKinnon said as he prepared for the trip here. "One in four families will be affected, according to national research. You can expect it will happen to you. You have to be cognizant about prevention. You need to know who is on the other end of the phone when you get those calls. Take the time to research and read all the fine print and call other people to do checks. We are in a 'do it right now' world and those people on the phone and the Internet are really good about pressuring you to do it right now, but legitimate businesses can wait for that due diligence to be done. If a business can't wait for those legitimacy checks, another business down the road is doing the same things and they will be happy to have you as a customer."
MacKinnon, a who bases his consumer protection operation in Nelson, will also have advice for business owners about handling data of customers and employees. It is the information that thieves want, so how are you protecting your cache of it?
"How do we educate your employees to prevent possible data breech?" he said. "You want to be able to show, when the Privacy Commissioner or some lawyer comes knocking, that you did everything you could to keep that information safe."
Each two-hour seminar is $10 to attend. Call the Prince George Aboriginal Business Development Association at 562-6325 or the Chamber at 562-2454.
MacKinnon said there will also be availability in between sessions for those who can't make it. Call 1-866-837-3283 to reach them in those down times, and if the message box is full, he said, it is only temporary so keep trying. Information can also be obtained at his website: www.themountie.com.
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Last Updated ( Monday, 12 May 2008 )
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