Last week, state Attorney General Ashley Moody issued tips to help protect Floridians in recognition of National Identity Theft Prevention and Awareness Month.
The Federal Trade Commission received 1.4 million reports of identity theft in 2021, with more than 100,000 reports coming from Floridians. With hackers lurking online, it is important that Floridians take steps to protect personal and financial information while using the internet.
“We should always be vigilant against hackers and those looking to steal personal and financial information. In recognition of National Identity Theft Prevention and Awareness Month, I’m encouraging Floridians to take steps to protect themselves from identity thieves,” Moody.
To keep personal and financial information safe from identity thieves, Floridians should:
Order and closely review a free credit report from each national credit reporting agency once a year;
Abstain from emailing personal or financial information;
Browse and purchase items online using only a secure connection. Never use autofill feature
when filling out online forms, unless it is on a trusted site;
Use anti-virus software, anti-spyware and a firewall;
Enable multi-factor authentication whenever possible;
Create strong passwords using a mixture of upper and lower-case letters, numbers and special characters. Never use the same password across multiple websites or apps;
Avoid oversharing on social networking sites; and
Refrain from giving solicitors personal or financial information over the phone, by email or pop-up message.
For more information on how to avoid identity thieves, check out Moody’s “Scams at a Glance: Identity Theft” resource.
