Media Announcement: Privacy Commissioner supports ID theft awareness campaign

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26 March 2007

The Privacy Commissioner, Karen Curtis, has voiced her support for the Australasian Consumer Fraud Taskforce's campaign, "Scams target you - protect yourself", and its "protect your identity" theme.

"ID theft is a growing phenomenon and people need to take steps to safeguard their personal information," Ms Curtis said.

Ms Curtis outlined ten steps to protect personal information. These are:

1. Read privacy policies.
2. Ask why the information is required, what they will do with it and who will it be disclosed to.
3. Never give out your personal information to someone you don't know or trust and only give out as much information as you need to.
4. Request access to your personal information - check your credit report at least once a year
5. Make sure the information an organisation or agency holds about you is accurate and up to date.
6. Take steps to protect online privacy.
7. Take steps to ensure your hard copy records are properly destroyed, including old bills, records or expired cards.
8. You may wish to 'opt out' of further contact with an organisation when completing forms unless you know you want to be in further contact with them.
9. Know your privacy rights.
10. Exercise your privacy rights

Further information on ID theft can be found at www.scamwatch.gov.au