Identity Theft In Florida: LifeLock Offers Insights

As the University of Central Florida continues to face the aftermath of a data breach that affected an estimated 63,000 current and former students and faculty members, LifeLock is offering insights about the growing trend of identity theft in Florida.

The company that provides identity protection services to people across the country reported a 15 percent spike in fraud alerts from its Florida members in 2015 versus 2014. The company also said Florida was the third riskiest state for identity fraud in 2015, coming in just behind California and Nevada.

“Identity theft is on the rise,” Paige Hanson, chief of identity education at LifeLock told Patch. “LifeLock’s recent proprietary data found that our members experienced more identity fraud in 2015 than in 2014. It also found that not only are there more new fraud victims, but many victims are experiencing more than one case of fraud using their stolen personal information.”

See Also:

• UCF Data Breach: 63,000 Social Security Numbers Swiped

A LifeLock and Javelin 2015 fraud study revealed there is a new identity fraud victim every 2 seconds, Hanson noted. The study also dove into the prevalence of students being targeted with researchers noting these findings:

• Students had a 45 percent higher incident rate of new account fraud
• Students on average take 30 percent longer to detect fraud compared to all other fraud victims
• Students are not on top about secure document storage and disposal habits.

While no one can completely safeguard against identity theft, LifeLock recommends the follow protection steps if consumers believe their personal information has been exposed during a breach:

• Change all passwords for financial, social media and email accounts
• Order a credit report from all three reporting agencies and place a fraud alert on accounts. The numbers to call are 800-525-6285 for Equifax, 800-680-7289 for TransUnion and 888-397-3742 for Experian
• Call the Identity Theft Resource Center at 888-400-5530 with additional questions
• Keep an eye on credit and debit accounts, looking for fraudulent activity. Report any suspicious transactions immediately.

For more information about LifeLock, visit it online.

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