Where Florida Ranks For Identity Theft
A List Florida Hates Winning
When looking at where Florida ranks for identity theft we can at least be happy that we’re not the highest, but uncomfortably close to the top. Looking at totals for last year (2022), Georgia and Louisiana were ahead of our state of Florida but not by much. These states represent over 500 identity theft cases per 100k people. Southern hospitality huh? When you look at cities, the hack seems to be on in the college towns. Tuscaloosa, Alabama tops the cities listed with over 1100 reports of ID theft per 100k population. Baton Rouge, Louisiana follows with 974 per 100k, closely followed by Miami with 868 cases of sunshine shadiness per 100k.
(Photo by Sam Wasson/Getty Images)
Why college campuses? Students in and out of apartments and dorms are guilty of being the most unsafe with their documents. Identity crooks find gold in old bank statements and anything with your social security number. By the way, in college, everything has your identifying info on it. Leases, financial aid letters, and credit card statements are all admittedly sources for this evil. Any student who’s ever dumped their old contents instead of shredding them, you are the criminals dream.
How Can You Help Protect Your Info?
With the United States uncovering over 440k cases, this is not slowing down. Most are with credit card fraud. Using your info to tap into your accounts or opening ones with your info are leading the way. Here are some steps to protect yourself.
- Pick a safe, private place for your important documents
- Multi-factor authentication is a big help
- Buying a shredder and using it with your discarded statements and letters
- Not clinking any hyperlinks from unknown sources.
- Never opening QR codes (open the long form site instead)
- Stay aware if “imposter scams” (phone calls to try and get you to share your trusted info)
