>Press

A majority believe it will happen to them at some point; few are taking proactive measures

July 14, 2010 - According to a new Ipsos Reid survey, almost all Canadians (97%) have heard of identity theft and 60% believe it will happen to them at some point in their lifetimes. Some 56% say they are very or extremely concerned regarding the risk of identity theft, especially in retail stores and online, but fewer (25%) recognize the risks at home and in institutional settings such as the workplace, school and the government – all of which hold large amounts of personal information.

In addition, the survey reveals that most Canadians do little to protect themselves from identity theft. “While 72% of Canadians say they have taken steps to protect themselves, the variety of means cited as to how they are actually doing it is limited,” said Mark Wilkins, Vice-President, Ipsos Reid. “The destruction or shredding of hard copy documents is the step most often mentioned, which leaves many identity theft risks unaddressed like computer hacking, unsafe social networking or organizations losing confidential data.”

Another interesting point revealed by the survey is that amongst all Canadians, Quebecers are the least aware and concerned about identity theft, while awareness, knowledge and concern is highest in Western Canada. On the other hand, Ontarians are the most interested in protecting themselves against identity theft.

The survey was conducted for ProtectionPower.ca, which offers the only integrated suite of online tools to help Canadians proactively protect themselves against potential threats, including identity theft, credit fraud, data loss, data breach and credit card theft. The founder of ProtectionPower.ca, Jamie Opalchuk, commented: “Identity theft is one of Canada’s fastest growing crimes, affecting 1 in 6 Canadians, and can occur in many ways and in many places. To date, Canadians haven’t had access to a comprehensive service to fight these multiple threats; ProtectionPower.ca fills that void.”

About the survey
A survey of 1051 adult Canadians was conducted between May 17 and 24, 2010 by Ipsos Reid on behalf of ProtectionPower.ca. The survey was conducted online, via Ipsos’ I-Say panel, consisting of 211,000 Canadians coast to coast, and sampled roughly equivalent numbers of respondents in each of Ontario and Quebec as well as the West and Atlantic regions.

View official survey release >>