Sustainability, Planning and Economic Enhancement
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Identity Theft

Every day, you may write a check at the grocery store, charge tickets to a ball game, rent a car online, respond to email or apply for a credit card. Chances are you don't give these transactions a second thought. But someone else may.

There is a new kind of thief whose stock in trade is your everyday transactions, which is based on your personal information - your bank account, income, social security number, name, address, phone numbers and date of birth. Identity thieves take this information, without your knowledge, to commit fraud or theft.

How big is the problem?

According to a 2011 Federal Trade Commission Report, for the 11th year in a row, identity theft ranked number one in the consumer complaint category. Of 1,339,265 complaints received in 2010, 250,854 - or 19 percent - were related to identity theft.   In addition, the FTC reports that Florida ranks second in the nation for fraud and identity theft complaints.

According to FTC records, The Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach metropolitan statistical area, also known as South Florida earned the highest rate of ID theft complaints in both the state and nation with 184 complaints per 100,000 residents.

Although you can't completely prevent identity theft from occurring, you can minimize your risk by managing your personal information, wisely. The Miami-Dade County Consumer Services Department is working in conjunction with the public and private sectors to provide you with the knowledge to deal with this very serious economic crime. Read our Identity Theft brochure or watch an Identity Theft video  On-Demand.

In order to view the media Windows Mediafiles above you will need Microsoft® Windows Media Player™. If you cannot view the media files, you can download Microsoft® Windows Media Player™ for free from Microsoft Corporation.

Back to Top Page Last Edited: Tue Aug 9, 2011 1:24:10 PM
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