According to a recent study by Equifax Canada, 54% of Canadians are currently more worried about identity theft than they were a year ago, with 49% of them expressing this concern mostly when shopping online. However, 75% of consumers still plan to make their holiday purchases online in 2015.
The survey indicates that since 2014, four in five Canadians have started to take a series of measures to protect their data. These measures include double-checking credit card statements (53%), updating security passwords (41%), installing security software (27%), shopping less online (15%) and purchasing an identity theft product (15%).
John Russo, Equifax Canadas Chief Privacy Officer, mentions that data breaches are on the rise and while its encouraging that some people are taking steps to protect their personal data, many remain easy targets for identity thieves and fraudsters.
According to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre, it is estimated that less than 5% of the total number of fraud victims report their experiences to law enforcement agencies. Fraud-related crime in Canada has ballooned to between USD 15-USD 30 billion annually.
The study is based on a sample of 1.557 Canadians with ages between 18 and 65.
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