Identity theft has hit one out of every six adult Canadians — more than 4.2 million people — either directly or within their immediate households, a survey suggests.

The poll, conducted in 2006 by the Strategic Counsel for the Competition Bureau of Canada, suggests that 17 per cent of Canadians aged 18 or older have either been victimized themselves or had an incident affect someone in their homes.

Even more people have been hit by marketing fraud, according to the survey: 31 per cent or about one in three adults.

Yet Canadians are not likely to complain to the authorities when they are victimized in marketing frauds, according to the survey.

"It remains the case that few people make a significant effort to report or resolve an incident of marketing fraud," the report said, with 43 per cent saying that they "did nothing."

Only eight per cent went to the local police, and even smaller numbers to the Competition Bureau, business groups or the fraud hotline PhoneBusters. For example, PhoneBusters got calls from about 7,800 people complaining of identity theft in 2006, with losses amounting to more than $16 million.

Many respondents said it would be just too much trouble to report the incident, or not worth it.

More often, people took matters into their own hands, contacting the company involved, stopping payment, changing their banking information or trying to get a refund.

The telephone survey of 1,000 Canadians was conducted from May 8 to 14, 2006. On a national level, the results are considered accurate within 3.1 percentage points 19 times out of 20.

Canada needs anti-spam law: privacy commissioner

Identity theft and other scams are in the spotlight because the Competition Bureau and partners, including the federal privacy commissioner and the RCMP, launched fraud prevention month on Thursday.

"Contrary to popular belief, fraud does not affect only the vulnerable in our society. Everyone is at risk of becoming a victim, regardless of age, education or income," Competition Bureau commissioner Sheridan Scott said.

The privacy commissioner, Jennifer Stoddart, pushed the federal government to do something about spam. Spam e-mails are often used by identity thieves to launch "phishing" attacks using apparently legitimate messages to trick people into divulging personal information.

"The federal government has not implemented any of the recommendations of its task force on spam," Stoddart said in a release. "Canada is now the only G-8 country without anti-spam legislation."

The annual fraud prevention month is organized by the Fraud Prevention Forum, which consists of companies, groups and government agencies that are trying to fight consumer fraud.

Events this year will include Scam Jams, one-day events designed to help consumers recognize and counter frauds, and shredding events in 20 cities where consumers can shred unwanted personal documents.