As additional information is shared in the digital world, defending that information can be made easier by taking a number of basic steps, according to safety experts. According to information from the Federal Trade Commission, Maryland ranked third in incidents of scam, identity theft and other complaints filed with the commission in 2010. The state ranked second per capital in information of fraud such as debit compilation and credit card and sweepstakes scams, and ninth in identity theft complaints, according to the FTC information. Maryland reported 23,581 incidents of scam and 4,784 incidents of identity theft in 2010, according to the statistics. The state regularly ranks around 10th nationally in identity theft complaints, said Hugh Williams, the administrator of the Maryland Attorney General’s Office’s Identity Theft Program. And the strength of the problem likely runs deeper.
The FTC numbers are simply from people who report identity theft to them, which means probable many more people are being mistreated, Williams said. There’s no genuine reason why numbers in a number of areas of the country are superior than in others, said Mike Prusinski, a spokesman for LifeLock, an Arizona-based identity theft avoidance company. He decided the numbers would likely be much superior if everybody filed a report with the trade commission, but told several people may have been victimized by friends or family and are a smaller amount likely to make a complaint. Criminals only require a little amount of information, such as a social security number and date of birth, to work, Prusinski said.
Once they acquire it, they can advertise it or keep it to get a job, file a false tax return or obligate other fraud. When an important person asks for personal information, customers must ask why they require it, how they’re storing the data and how the company will guard them if something happens, Prusinski said. Many of the steps to stay away from being a fraud or identity theft victim are reasonable, Williams said. People doing personal business online must make sure to utilize a secure Internet connection, remove suspicious emails immediately and frequently inform their anti-virus software.