The Canadian government plans to criminalize identity theft to give police the ability to stop such activity before any fraud has actually been carried out, Justice Minister Rob Nicholson said Tuesday. He said he would introduce legislation targeting the actual gathering and trafficking in credit card, banking and other personal data for the purposes of using it deceptively.
Identity fraud is already a crime in Canada, but gathering and trafficking in identity information generally is not. "Our government will be giving police the tools to better protect Canadians by stopping identity theft activity before the damage is done," Nicholson said in a statement. The misuse of such information can ruin a person's credit rating and reputation. Banks and credit card companies can be on the hook for fraud, and taxpayers can also end up paying if pensions or other government benefits are fraudulently drawn.
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