Fraud alert.
Identity theft is on the rise — but it’s most common in three Southern states: Louisiana, Georgia and Florida, according to data from the Federal Trade Commission.
In 2022, more than 500 people for every 100,000 were victims of the crime with credit card fraud being the most common form of identity theft. Scammers use someone’s personal information to steal from a credit card account or to open a new line of credit in the individual’s name.
Alabama’s largest college city, Tuscaloosa, was the No. 1 metro area in the country experiencing the most identity fraud with more than 1,000 victims for every 100,000.
Baton Rouge was second with 947 victims for every 8,347 folks, and then the Miami-Fort Lauderdale and Pompano Beach areas of South Florida with 868 for every 53,201 people affected.
There were a shocking 441,822 reports of identity theft nationwide last year.
Millennials appeared to be most at risk, with individuals from the ages of 30 to 39 comprising 25% of all US victims, according to the data.
Americans 80 and older reported the least number of fraud.
In addition to credit card fraud, the second most common scam consumers experienced was related to online shopping, payment accounts, and via social media and emails, according to the FTC report.
Criminals also found a way to get money through employment, tax, benefits, loan, utilities and phone cons.
The FTC suggests Americans protect themselves from identity theft by keeping paper financial records including Social Security, Medicare cards and other personal documents in a private space.
Those logging in to an online account should use a strong password and add a multi-factor authentication for accounts that offer that option (an extra security measure that requires two or more credentials to log into an account), according to the FTC.
The agency also urges to beware of scammers calling, texting or emailing to ask about personal information.