what is identity theft?

• MyKad
• Drivers license
• Credit cards or bank statements
• Telephone calling cards
• Birth certificates
• Passports

1. Dumpster Diving. They rummage through trash looking for bills or other paper with your personal information on it. 2. Skimming. They steal credit/debit card numbers by using a special storage device when processing your card.   


3. Phishing. They pretend to be financial institutions or companies and send spam or pop-up messages to get you to reveal your personal information. 

4.Changing Your Address. They divert your billing statements to another location by completing a change of address form. 
5. Old-Fashioned Stealing. They steal wallets and purses; mail, including bank and credit card statements; pre-approved credit offers; and new checks or tax information. 








6.Pretexting.  They use false pretenses to obtain your personal information from financial institutions, telephone companies, and other sources.  For more information about pretexting.

• DON'T give out your Identity Card number unless it is absolutely necessary. 
• DESTROY any unwanted credit card offers. This means rip, shred, burn, whatever you can do.
• SHRED  any sensitive documents before you throw them into the trash.
• DON'T carry your passport or birth certificate in your wallet or purse. Also, only carry as many credit cards as are absolutely necessary.
• REVIEW your credit report every year 
• NEVER give out personal information on the phone to someone you don't know and who initiated the call.

1. immediately report to the police

• It entitles you to certain legal rights when it is provided to the  major credit reporting agencies or to companies where the thief misused your information. 
• An Identity Theft Report can be used to permanently block fraudulent information that results from identity theft, such as accounts or addresses, from appearing on your credit report. 
•  It will also make sure these debts do not reappear on your credit reports. 
• Identity Theft Reports can prevent a company from continuing to collect debts that result from identity theft, or selling them to others for collection. 
• An Identity Theft Report is also needed to place an extended fraud alert on your credit report.

Sorry Encik But You're Blacklisted, In Debt And Dead! 

Thursday, September 28, 2006

In the NST today. There is a "dead" man walking the streets. And he is very frustrated. The Sultanah Aminah Hospital and the National Registration Department have declared him dead. And the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) had given his savings to his "widow".

On top of that, creditors are knocking at his door, never mind that he has been certified dead. It is no wonder that bachelor Mohamed Syarizal Wahab is frustrated and angry. Someone had stolen his identity.

The first hint of trouble our 'late' Syarizal got was when he found himself blacklisted by the Road Transport Department for two traffic offences in 2004. On enquiring he was shocked to find that someone had used his name to buy another car with which the crook had committed these traffic offences. He then lodged a police report. After a brief lull, things started going awry and he was summoned to court by a finance company for not servicing his car loan.

On checking at the National Registration Department, he was informed that he had already died! Tracing his "death", he went to the Sultanah Aminah Hospital where he was told that he had not only "died" there on Jan 30 this year, he owed the hospital RM28.

Then, came another shock. When he checked with the EPF, he was told that a woman with an address in Felda Adela, Kota Tinggi, had been paid his savings of RM12,000. She had claimed to be his beneficiary. The woman, he was told, had provided the EPF with a complete set of documents — from the death certificates issued by the hospital and the NRD, a marriage certificate, and birth certificates of two children bearing his name as the father. "I nearly fainted when the officer informed me about this for I could not believe this was happening to me. I am not even married," he said.

But, there was more, as Syarizal found out. A finance company is getting a bankruptcy order against him for not servicing his car loan. "The finance company said it had repossessed the car and put it up for auction. I did not buy a car from the finance company and now I have to pay about RM30,000 or face bankruptcy!"

Syarizal has filed seven police reports but, he laments, investigations into his case were going at a snail’s pace. "Last month, an officer from the EPF came to meet me. He said they would clear things up and return the money, but until today, I have not received any feedback."

Meanwhile, Johor Baru (South) district police chief Assistant Commissioner Roslan Ahmad said police were investigating. Johor NRD director Ramli Awang Kassim said they were investigating the authenticity of the confirmation of death letter issued by a doctor at the Sultanah Aminah Hospital in Johor Baru. "According to regulations, the death certificate is only issued if this letter and the NRIC are given to our department," he said.