1.7 million Canadians fell victims to ID thief

The research conducted by the McMaster eBusiness Research Centre at the DeGroote School of Business that surveyed 3000 Canadians shows that, 1.7 million of them (app. 6.5% of the population) were victims of identity fraud last year. Total losses they incurred came up to about $150 million. Collectively 20 million hours were spent to resolve the cases.

More than half of respondents did not even know how their information could have come into the possession of fraudsters. Often, they don’t know their identity has been compromised until they try to apply for lines of credit or mortgages and are turned down because of delinquent loan payments for purchases they never made. 

About one in five told pollsters of the Research Network that they have reduced their online shopping, because they are becoming increasingly wary of it. As $12.8 billion was spent on online purchases in Canada last year, and that is a 61 per cent increase from 2005, companies are losing sales due to customers’ fear of fraud. The study showed, though, that the members of the survey’s sample who blamed an in-person transaction for causing identity fraud against them was nearly double that of who blamed online business.

The theme of this year’s Identity Theft Conference of 2008 held in Vancouver earlier this week was the relationship between privacy, trust and identity theft. Dr. Susan Sproule, a lead researcher with the McMaster eBusiness Research Centre presented the findings of the Research Network study to the attendance of the conference composed of government, business, academia, and consumer groups’ representatives. 

The McMaster eBusiness Research Network report was co-authorized by Susan Sproule and Norm Archer, Professor Emeritus at the DeGroote School of Business. It was financed by the Ontario Research Network for Electronic Commerce (ORNEC), with the assistance of Royal Bank of Canada, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, TD Canada Trust, Bank of Montreal and Bell Security Solutions, concluded The Silhouette.