State Cautions Public to be Vigilant for Identity Theft Scams

November 22, 2024

For Immediate Release: November 22, 2024

State Cautions Public to be Vigilant for Identity Theft Scams

AUGUSTA - November 17-23 is International Fraud Awareness Week, and the Maine Departments of Labor and Public Safety are urging the public to be vigilant against scams targeting people's personal information. Inadvertently providing your information through one scam can even feed others, such as victims of housing scams also finding that their identity had then been used to file an unemployment insurance claim in their name.

Today's technology provides us with many benefits. Unfortunately, it has also provided the same benefits to identity thieves who use someone else's personal financial information to access bank and other accounts, hurting innocent victims.

Millions of people are potentially at risk for identity theft. The following is provided to help you protect your financial privacy and the steps to follow if you have become an identity theft victim.

Identity Theft Everyone has personal information (such as credit card numbers, bank account numbers, and social security numbers) that can be misused when in the wrong hands. A scam artist who learns any of your personal information, through a variety of ways such as online, or through employment - https://www.bbb.org/content/dam/bbb-institute-(bbbi)/files-to-save/2020-bbb-employmentscams-report.pdf or housing scams, can potentially use that to learn more of your personal information and eventually make purchases in your name, or use your identity to for other means such as to file an unemployment insurance claim.

What to do: Be wary if individuals request photos of you and your identity documents on non-governmental or unofficial websites. Be vigilant of phishing emails, unsolicited offers, and scammers. Exercise caution, as scammers and bots create trustworthy websites and sponsored ads to collect your personal information for fraudulent purposes.

To prevent identity theft, be proactive and protect:

• Financial info (bank routing info, debit cards, bank statements, etc.)
• Online Passwords (change when recommended, not easily predictable (e.g. do not use ABC123, etc.)
• Official Documents (lock/secure all official documents (SSC, Passport) and don't carry them daily

More information on identity theft and what to do if you're a victim can be found here: https://www.maine.gov/ag/privacy/index.shtml