10 Tips to Prevent Identity Theft and Fraud

This article provides some good advice on how you can prevent identify fraud. Identity theft and fraud are among the fastest growing crimes in Canada and by paying attention to these few tips you can reduce the risk of it happening to you.

I you suspect an identity theft crime you should contact your local Police authority.

We can help with many types of fraud and security investigations. Call us to discuss your situation.

source: The Huffington Post Canada, Jeffrey Schwartz, Consolidated Credit Counseling Services of Canada

"Every year thousands of Canadians fall victim to identity theft and fraud. By using your name, date of birth, credit card, Social Insurance Number and other personal information, savvy criminals can open credit card and bank accounts, redirect mail, establish cell phone services, rent vehicles, and even secure employment.

Last year alone, more than 36,000 Canadians were victims of identity theft and fraud, resulting in the loss of more than 78-million dollars, according to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre. In fact, fraud and ID theft are among the fastest growing crimes in Canada and the financial impact on individuals, families and businesses can be devastating.

1.Erase all personal information before disposing or selling electronic equipment. This includes computers, cell phones, CDs, DVDs, diskettes and memory sticks.

2.Shred or destroy pre-approved credit card applications, credit card receipts, bills and related information when you no longer need them.

3.Never send confidential personal or financial information by email.

4.Ask yourself if you really need all the personal identity documents you keep in your wallet or purse. Remove those you don't need and keep them in a secure place instead.

5.Periodically check your credit reports, bank and credit card statements and report any irregularities to your financial institutions and the credit bureaus.

6.During debit or credit transactions, swipe the card yourself rather than allowing the cashier to do it for you.

7.Memorize all the personal identification numbers for your payment cards. Never write them on the cards.

8.Never use a public access computer or wireless network when banking or shopping online.

9.Avoid mail or telephone solicitations disguised as promotions or surveys offering instant prizes or awards. These scams are designed for the purpose of obtaining your personal details including credit card numbers.

10.Don't reply to spam emails, even to unsubscribe, and do not click on any links listed in a spam email. Many of these are phishing scams designed to access the personal information stored on your computer.

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Shocking Truth - 1 in 7 Resumes have 'Errors' - That's Why Pre-Employment Screening is So Important!

We came across a shocking figure the other day ... It is estimated that almost one in seven resumes contain some form of discrepancy – most commonly dates of employment, academic and professional qualifications and undisclosed directorships.

Therefore, Pre-employment screening services are gaining in popularity to help your organisation to identify undesirable individuals, who may be dishonest or susceptible to committing fraud, before they join you.

These are the minimum verification requirements:

Employment application forms vary from one organisation to another, but often you can request additional information relating to an applicant’s:

• Identity (full name and date of birth)
• Residential address
• Educational and/or professional qualifications
• Employment history (including any gaps) and references
• Right to work in the Canada
• Criminal history
• Financial background.

Depending upon the type of vacancy and sector in which your organisation operates, it may be necessary to verify some or all of this information.

As a minimum, you should aim to verify the applicant’s identity, residential address, eligibility to work in the position applied for and previous employment history.

Here is an important piece of information - the background checks your organisation conducts should be proportionate to the risks associated with the advertised role. For example, managerial or financial positions may require more extensive screening. Particular care should be taken in screening applicants for positions with access to customer records and/or other confidential information, such as call centre staff.

What is pre-employment screening?

Pre-employment screening is the process of checking that information provided by a prospective employee – usually in a job application form, resume or CV – is accurate and complete. The results are used to make an informed decision about the suitability of an applicant for a particular vacancy.

To be effective, pre-employment screening should be completed before a prospective employee starts work; otherwise it may be too late.

Why is pre-employment screening important?

Pre-employment screening can provide some assurance that a prospective employee is trustworthy and has the necessary skills and/or experience required to perform the role they have applied for.

It can also deter dishonest individuals from applying in the first place.
Pre-employment screening will not completely protect your business against an employee committing fraud once they have started working for you – an individual’s personal and/or financial circumstances can change over time – but it can help to reduce the risk of this occurring.

The risks of not screening

Failure to undertake pre-employment screening may expose your organisation to the risks of:

• Abuse of procurement and/or staff expense reimbursement processes.
• Theft of business assets, customer information and/or intellectual property rights.
• Use of your business premises and/or equipment to conduct unauthorised or illegal activities.
• Appointment of individuals not suitably qualified or experienced for the role and/or who are dishonest.

Common types of pre-employment fraud include:

• Uses a false identity
• Impersonates an innocent party
• Use of a false immigration document
• Provides false education and/or professional qualifications
• Provides false references
• Conceals his or her employment history
• Conceals his or her employment record
• Conceals unspent criminal conviction(s)
• Conceals adverse financial and/or credit history.

Taking action

If you discover that a prospective employee has provided a serious material falsehood on his or her application form for employment with your organisation, you should:

1. Withdraw any offer of employment that has been made.
2. Report the matter to the appropriate authorities (such as the Police, Canada Border Agency, etc).
3. Notify any recruitment agency involved that a fraudulent employment application form has been submitted.

Finally, your organisation may wish to consider conducting periodic checks on employees being promoted, as well as in high risk positions, to ensure they remain.

The Renwick Group - www.therenwickgroup.ca - 1 (888) 722-9807 - is a private investigation firm founded in 1997 and is based in Barrie, Ontario, covering Toronto, GTA and South Central Ontario. We excel in delivering our core Private Investigation Services in the most efficient, secure, and professional manner.​ - Our services include: Surveillance, Skip Tracing, Pre-Employment Screening, Litigation Support and Labour Dispute Management

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What is Pre-Employment Screening and Why Is It Important?

At The Renwick Group we are noticing a trend in the number of organizations, particular small companies without HR resources, take on our pre-employment screening services.

Basically, the employer wants to make sure that the applicant who is in the final stages of getting the job, is properly vetted, screened and all the final resume checks are made to determine that everything presented is true and honest.

In the course of pre-employment checks a number of factors may, individually or in combination, raise concerns about the integrity or reliability of the applicant. Credit report checks for example, can provide assurance that there are no significant credit or debt problems that could place the individual in a vulnerable position.





Other factors to look out for include:

• involvement in illegal activities
• criminal convictions relevant to the role, particularly if not volunteered by the applicant
• false or unsubstantiated claims on the CV or application form
• unsubstantiated qualifications
• unexplained gaps in employment history
• adverse references
• questionable documentation e.g. lack of supporting paperwork or concern that documents are not genuine
• evasiveness or unwillingness to provide information on the part of the candidate.

Pre-employment Screening

  

Pre-employment screening can be also be used to confirm an applicant's identity, nationality and immigration status, and to verify their declared skills and employment history.

  

Additional Security Screening

 

With some employmnet situations, addtional security is required for the position and we can add a security screening process, including:

• more robust procedures on confirming the individual's identity
• a five year employment confirmation
• robust financial checks for Court Judgements and bankruptcies
• more robust procedures where career and history records are incomplete
• Deep criminal records checks
• Detailed migrant worker checks with visa and paperwork validation

Hiring qualified, honest employees is critical to the success of your organization being diligent with your hiring process can be important.

We understand that hiring the right candidate can involve more than just pre-employment screening and a criminal background check.  Using the most reliable technology to search nationwide and beyond - instantly in many cases - The Renwick Group delivers the decision-making information you need. Criminal background checks, verifications, license checks and many more employee background check services are moved at speed so you, and your business, can move forward.

The Renwick Group - www.therenwickgroup.ca - 1 (888) 722-9807 - is a private investigation firm founded in 1997 and is based in Barrie, Ontario, covering Toronto and South Central Ontario. We excel in delivering our core Private Investigation Services in the most efficient, secure, and professional manner.​

Skip Tracing Services Explained

We are often asked about our Skip Tracing Services and even though it is an important part of our business, there are still a lot of organizations that don't fully understand what Skip Tracing fully entails.



Skip Tracing Find Missing Individuals

Skip Tracing may sound like a spy technique out of a James Bond movie, but it actually has several practical daily applications for business and organizations of all sizes.

Anyone from lawyers to debt collectors, small businesses to private investigators, large corporations to educational institutions may employ Skip Tracing to find an individual's current whereabouts, track someone's activities, or find missing assets.

Lawyers can seek out Skip Tracing to find witnesses, or to communicate with heirs to an estate. 

Third party debt collectors or an in-house collections department use the data to track down delinquent borrowers or customers. 

While securing records forms a core part of the search for an individual, this activity is not the beginning and end of the Skip Tracing process. 

The real art of Skip Tracing entails using up-to-the-minute data from multiple reliable sources.

To be successful, it’s imperative to gather information from multiple data sources, cross-reference the information to ensure its veracity, analyze the data and distill the records into the most essential information.

 

The tools of the trade employed for effective Skip Tracing include:

•  Databases of addresses and phone numbers
•  Applications for credit cards, loans and jobs
•  Legal records
•  Criminal records
•  Tax information
•  Bills for utilities
•  Payroll information
•  Driver's license applications and renewals
•  Vehicle registrations
•  Traffic tickets

 

Skip Tracing entails utilizing this data to create a profile of the individual being traced.  For this reason, you should access multiple records from verified resources and, when necessary, fact-check information by conducting in-person interviews or by contacting related parties.

Challenges can arise when less reliable sources or conflicting information confuses the search. 

Professional Skip Tracers like us The Renwick Group understand that accuracy, sophisticated computer retrieval techniques and access to proprietary information delivers top results. 

Tapping into this database of information can be as simple as finding the right data supplier for accurate Skip Tracing and people search data. 

If you are in a position where you are evaluating businesses that supply Skip Tracing services, we recommend looking for a company that aggregates data from several informational streams, producing quality results in a short time frame.

Conducting effective Skip Tracing searches is challenging and does require expert knowledge and understanding of the data and therefore the more professional the organization you are dealing with the better the results you will get.

The Renwick Group - www.therenwickgroup.ca - 1 (888) 722-9807  - is a private investigation firm founded in 1997 and is based in Barrie, Ontario, covering Toronto and South Central Ontario. We excel in delivering our core Private Investigation Services in the most efficient, secure, and professional manner.​