Identity theft is one of the fastest growing crimes in Malaysia. Credit card numbers, NRIC numbers, date of birth, and other personal identification can net criminals thousands of Ringgit in a very short time.

Most often, an identity thief will obtain your personal identification numbers from the trash and obtain credit in your name by having credit cards, goods or services delivered to their address or mail drop. Since the bills for the charges incurred with be sent to the thief's address, not yours, you will be unaware that debt is mounting up in your name until the collections department tracks you down. By then your credit report will already be riddled with late payment histories and show many accounts in collections. As you can imagine, the credit reporting bureaus will be reluctant to change negative credit without proof that you had not created the bad credit.

Identity theft can take many forms. An illegal immigrant may use you NRIC number and date of birth for employment purposes or to obtain a birth certificate. Imagine the confusion that can be created when the IRS wants to know why you did not declare the extra income reported to them from someone using your name and NRIC number.

Sometimes NRIC cards are sold over and over to hundreds of individuals who in turn attempt to obtain bogus credit in your name or establish utility services and run up the bills. This activity can be seen taking place openly at the Johor-Singapore Causeway, the open market in Kota Kinabalu and in Jelutong, Penang, to name just a few places in our country.

Sometimes arrested criminals will give assumed names, DOB's, and NRIC’s. Innocent persons have discovered criminal records reported in their name because of misused ID. See how easy it is to explain when you are mistakenly arrested for an outstanding criminal warrant in front of family, coworkers or friends.

Identity theft can take months and sometimes even years to detect and can take about the same time to correct the damage. MVD Agencies latest research statistic reveals that victims of identity theft spend an average of 175 hours and RM808 in out-of-pocket costs (not including attorney fees) to fix their wrecked credit problem. Identity theft can significantly traumatise anyone because it is unnerving to know (or not know) the extent of the damage to your name, credit or reputation. There have been cases reported where victims took many years to restore their credit and good names, and had problems cashing cheques, obtaining loans or even renting apartments.

• Run a credit report on yourself to see if there are any unknown credit inquiries or unauthorised accounts.

• Reconcile your cheque and credit card statements in a timely fashion and challenge any purchases that you did not make.

• Limit the number of credit cards you have to reduce exposure, and cancel any inactive accounts.

• Destroy all unused pre-approved credit card and loan applications. The mailbox thief only has to fill them out and redirect the return address to start using your credit.

• Never give any important number out like from your credit card, bank account, date of birth, or NRIC number to anyone you don’t know over the telephone.

• Minimise exposure of your date of birth, NRIC number, and credit card numbers.

• Safeguard your credit, debit and ATM card receipts and shred them before disposing of them.

• Shred your bank statements and any tax documents when you dispose of them.

• Before disposal, shred paycheck stubs that contain your NRIC number and often, your name and address. This is a common way for dumpster divers to obtain important identification.

• Scrutinise your utility and subscription bills to make sure the charges are yours.

• Destroy all cheques immediately when you close a current account. Destroy or keep in a secure place, any courtesy cheques that your bank or credit card company may mail to you.

• Memorise your passwords and personal identification numbers (PIN).

• Do not give out your PIN or write them on your credit cards or ATM cards.

• Keep a list of, or photocopy all credit and identification cards you carry with you, including front and back, so that you can quickly call the issuers to inform them about missing or stolen cards.

• Don't give away too much personal information on your personal web site. Full names, date of births and address is too much information to post. By obtaining your "place-of-birth," the identity thief can possibly get your duplicate birth certificate.

• Protect your mother's maiden name, especially when using family tree tracers and genealogy service web sites. Maiden names are often used as passwords to access accounts over the telephone.

• Never leave your purse or wallet unattended, at work, restaurants, health fitness clubs, church, temples, mosques, social gatherings or in your shopping cart. Never leave your purse or wallet in open view in your car, even when locked.

• Report the incident to the police immediately. If you know where your identification was stolen, that would be the correct police jurisdiction to report it to. Insist on being given a police report number and get a copy to enclose in correspondences with credit agencies.

• Report all stolen cards to the issuers immediately and request for new card numbers. Always respond to written credit card receipt notifications received in the post.

• Notify your bank in the event that your cheques are stolen and request that your account be closed.

• Be prepared to work with retailers who have been victimised by someone using your name to help mitigate their losses, if necessary.

• Contact the National Registration Department (NRD) office if someone is using your NRIC number to establish credit or new accounts.