Thanks to rapidly-evolving technologies, identity theft has become one of the fastest-growing financial crimes in the world today. Last year in Canada, more than 7,700 victims of identity theft contacted Phone Busters, the Canadian Anti-fraud Call Centre. They reported a total loss of $16 million.

Scams have evolved from simply stealing people’s personal documents from their homes to hacking into the computer systems of large companies and extracting customers’ personal data. Other scams involve tricking people into providing their personal information with fraudulent emails or phone calls. To combat this growing problem, Justice Minister Rob Nicholson announced last week that the government plans to criminalize identity theft and give police the ability to prevent the damage before fraud has been carried out. Epoch Times | Identity Fraud Widespread, Costing Millions