I know that Wayne will not try to steal my identity but its the principle of doing this. I mean the practice of sending that information is
the worst thing you can do to protect yourself from identity theft.
I can fax it and sure enough the transmission is "secure" but what guarantees I get that someone will not mis-use that information or sell it on the internet or simply instead of shred just throw it like that in the garbage can?? Maybe I've seen too many movies, maybe I have a criminal mind, but its part of my daily Job to identify and close security gaps for the benefit of our customers and partners and most important the company. The accountabilities are huge.
For those who have sent this information have you ever read the privacy policies? And in the rare event you actually read them did you understand them?
Just to give you an example I bought a nice present for my wife in Winners for xmas.. do you remember the parent company of Winners was hacked and all Canadian credit cards were illegally accessed? I remember because it was on TV and because I got a new card and number
Did I know that my information was going to be stored and used outside of Canada without my approval?? Nope.
Doesn't MasterCard have a fraud department that protect us the customers from fraud? But who will protect you if someone steals your identity?
Just read this (don't put too much attention to the last paragraph just above the references)
:
http://idtheft.about.com/od/dataandstat1/p/GeneralStats.htm
General Link for IdTheft:
http://www.safecanada.ca/identitytheft_e.asp