Get ahead of the hack

In the first half of this year some 11,000 Canadians have lost more than $284M to identity fraud. But there are steps you can take to avoid becoming the next victim

- LORA GRADY

Like many blissfully unaware Canadians, I never thought I would be the target of credit card fraud — until I discovered unrecognizable charges on my Visa last month.

In the middle of June, I woke up to a notification from my banking app: Someone had tried signing in around 3 a.m. I tapped the “That wasn’t me” option, changed my password and locked my credit card immediately. Then I checked my most recent transactions, and my stomach sank. There were 12 transactions ranging from $4.45 to $8.90 for Apple Mobile in Tokyo.

I called my bank right away to report the fraudulent charges (which can also be done online) and cancelled my Visa card. I also reset my online banking password. But I couldn’t understand how this happened. I am as careful as possible with my credit card information.

Then on July 8, I was one of many North Americans who received a notice from Ticketmaster: “We are writing to notify you of a data security incident that may have involved your personal information,” it said. The email went on to explain that the company discovered an unauthorized third party obtained information from a cloud database hosted by a third-party data services provider between April 2 and May 18. On May 23, Ticketmaster determined that some of my personal information may have been affected. I recalled the fraudulent charges and suddenly, it all made sense.

The biggest step you can take to protect yourself is to have unique passwords. Jeff Horncastle, acting client and communications outreach officer for the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre, says that when you use the same password for all of your accounts, they're all at risk of being compromised.

A quick Google News search shows that I was one of possibly millions of Ticketmaster customers worldwide whose information was leaked.