MIAMI: Identity theft is common in South Florida.
A study by the credit card aggregator Upgraded Points found that the Miami metro area has the most people whose identities are stolen than any other US metro area. The Miami area is made up of the counties of Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach.
The big problem is that as we put more and more information online, hackers are getting better at breaking into our accounts, stealing our data, and starting new ones before their victims even know what’s going on.
Armando Aguilar, who is the assistant chief of police in Miami, had his name stolen. He said that more crooks are getting involved because it’s easy to do and sometimes hard to track down.
It’s a lot safer than selling drugs on the street corner, where you could get shot. Your chance of getting caught is a lot smaller. So, it’s definitely one of those crimes, and I think this is probably true for most crimes in general, but probably more so for fraud and identity theft,” he said.
So, here are some things you can do to avoid becoming a victim of scams or identity theft:
- Don’t use your card.
- Use strong passwords and a step to prove who you are.
- Watch out for scam emails and texts
- Keep your Social Security number secret.
- If you can, use alerts from your bank and credit card company.
- Often check your credit record.
The Upgraded Points study says that text messages are the most common way that people are targeted these days. Mailbox theft, hacking public wifi, data breaches, skimming, and phone scams are some of the other most common ways that people take the information.
