December 1, 2023 at 12:00 p.m.
Michele Mason
The holiday season is in full swing with local and online purchases in high gear. This brings an increased risk of identity theft through the swipes of our credit and debit cards, fraudulent delivery related text and emails and information we’re sharing online. This is the perfect time to put your focus on protecting your personal and banking information.
Identity theft remains by far the highest type of fraud that has been reported by individuals to BBB and other agencies whose data is compiled in the Federal Trade Commission’s 2022 Consumer Sentinel. During 2022 more than 1.1 million reports of identity theft were reported through Consumer Sentinel, which represent 21.5% of all submissions. Georgia remains the state with the highest number of ID theft cases reported in relation to population size, with 162,597 cases.