Credit Guides And Credit Services

Canadians Overwhelmingly Concerned about Identity Theft, but Most Do Not Know How to Protect Themselves, Finds New Intersections Inc./Ipsos-Reid Poll

CHANTILLY, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 30, 2004--Seventy-five percent of Canadians say they are concerned about identity theft, but only 20 percent consider themselves 'very well informed' about how to protect themselves against one of the fastest-growing crimes in North America.
These are among the findings of a telephone poll of 1001 Canadian adults released today by Intersections Inc. (Nasdaq:INTX). Conducted earlier this month by Ipsos-Reid on behalf of Intersections, the preliminary results were presented at the recent meeting of the Credit Scoring and Risk Strategy Association (CSRSA) at Blue Mountain Resort in Collingwood, Ontario.

"While identity thieves are getting more sophisticated in the ways they perpetrate their crimes, Canadians are not yet equally savvy in their responses to this growing threat," said Sheila McCracken, who directs Intersections' Canadian solutions group, commenting on the findings.

Encouragingly, when asked at the beginning of the survey, "If you were contacted by telephone or e-mail from a bank or retailer that you frequently deal with, how likely would you be to provide your personal account information," only one in seven respondents (14 percent) said they would be 'very likely' or 'somewhat likely' to do so.

This finding suggests that Canadian consumers are taking heed of increasing reports about identity theft, including new tactics by criminals, such as "phishing," where fraudsters create websites that mirror those of well-known companies to lure consumers into providing personal information. However, the poll also suggests that Canadian consumers are not doing all they can to protect themselves.

When asked the question, "In your opinion, what specific steps or actions should people take to prevent becoming victim to identity theft," only one response was cited by a significant percentage of respondents: 'do not provide financial or personal information' (44 percent). Other actions were cited by only a minority of respondents, including keeping personal documents or records locked up (16 percent), ensuring credit cards and debit cards are in plain view while used or handled (13 percent), and shredding personal documents or records (12 percent). Almost one in ten (9 percent) did not know.

Only two percent of Canadians mentioned reviewing or monitoring their credit bureau files or credit records as a way to prevent identity theft victimization. This finding is not surprising since the poll also found that 69 percent of Canadians have never seen a copy of their credit file and only 12 percent have seen their file in the past twelve months.

Some believe Canadian consumers are missing out by not taking advantage of an essential tool in the fight against identity theft.

"There is a misconception among consumers that they can prevent identity theft altogether," said Barry Elliott, Detective Staff Sergeant with the Ontario Provincial Police and founder of PhoneBusters, a clearinghouse for Canadian fraud statistics. "Consumers cannot prevent identity theft. They can only prevent criminals from using their personal information for financial gain by rendering the information useless to fraudsters. The best way to do that is to monitor their credit 24-7."

Intersections Inc., in partnership with Carlson Marketing Group Canada Ltd., offers the only credit monitoring service that monitors consumers' files at both major credit reporting agencies in Canada - Equifax Canada and TransUnion Canada - on a daily basis for red flags that may indicate identity theft or fraud. The service, called CreditAlert(TM), is available through financial institutions. Consumers may also enroll by phone by calling 1-866-806-1151.

The Intersections Inc./Ipsos-Reid poll also supports the need for companies, such as banks, credit card companies and retailers to do more to prevent identity theft. While 92 percent of respondents said they consider it their own responsibility to protect themselves from identity theft, they also said financial institutions and banks (84 percent), credit card companies (83 percent), credit bureaus (71 percent), retailers (70 percent) and government (68 percent) bear responsibility for protecting them from this growing crime.

"Consumers are willing to accept a large amount of responsibility for protecting their identities, but they clearly expect businesses to do their part as well," said McCracken. "Businesses that do not continue to improve their fraud management processes will end up losing their customers to businesses that do."

These are some of the findings of a national Ipsos-Reid telephone poll conducted on behalf of Intersections Inc. between June 1st and 3rd, 2004. The poll is based on a randomly selected sample of 1,001 adult Canadians. With a sample of this size, the results are considered accurate to within +/- 3.1 percentage points, 10 times out of 20, of what they would have been had the entire adult Canadian population been polled. The margin of error will be larger within regions and for other sub-groupings of the survey population. These data were weighted to ensure the sample's regional and age/gender composition reflects that of the actual Canadian population according to the 2001 Census data.

For more information, visit www.intersections.com or www.ipsos-reid.com.

About Intersections Inc.

Intersections Inc. provides identity theft protection and credit management services on a subscription basis to more than two million subscribers in the United States and Canada. Our services are principally marketed to customers of our clients under our clients' private label brands and are tailored to meet our clients' specifications. Our clients include large credit and charge card issuing financial institutions and other financial service providers.

Statements in this press release relating to future plans, results, performance, expectations, achievements and the like are considered "forward-looking statements." Those forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks and are subject to change based on various factors and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by those statements. Factors and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ include but are not limited to the risks disclosed in the Company's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The Company undertakes no obligation to revise or update any forward-looking statements.

Contacts


Intersections Inc.
Amy Gergely, 703-488-6229
email: agergely@intersections.com

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