Newfoundland and Labrador RCMP are warning the public about how easy it is to become the victim of identity theft by telling the story of one of their own officers.

The RCMP said Thursday at a news conference that people should be more vigilant and shred unnecessary documents as scams to obtain personal information become more prevalent.

RCMP Const. Jim Roberts found himself the victim of such a scam after he moved to St. John's and accessed his PayPal account to change his address and other information.

A few days later, he received an e-mail from that looked like it was from PayPal asking him to verify the changes he had made by providing more information. He followed the link provided to what he thought was a secure PayPal site.

"It asked for a number of things. My full name, my address, my date of birth, my social insurance number and my credit card information. I supplied all of this and thought nothing more of it," he said.

"I just assumed because it looked official that it was official."

When Roberts checked his e-mail the next day, approximately $500 US in payments had been made from his PayPal account.

He was able to have his password and credit card numbers changed since the transaction was made on the weekend and couldn't be processed immediately. He also put a fraud alert on all his credit cards for the next five years.

RCMP Const. Yvonne Walsh, an identity theft investigator, said incidences of identity theft online and via telephone are on the rise.

"If you have not initiated contact with these companies that are requesting your financial information, then don't respond to it," she said.

Walsh said identity thieves are stealing information by targeting mailboxes, going through dumpsters, imitating the websites of legitimate businesses and, even cemeteries where thieves take information from tombstones.

"Identities are created and you can see requests for credit in their names or when they get to the age where they're allowed to have benefits under the CPP [Canadian Pension] Program — you see requests for benefits," she said.

Walsh also warned about children sharing personal information online, using social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace.

Walsh said people should avoid throwing out junk mail or recycling personal papers, and instead shred everything.