Cincinnati.com Local Politics:Ohio identity theft scheme targets BMV accounts: What you need to know

Scammers are using stolen personal information to answer BMV security questions and gain access to user accounts. Here's how to protect your account. [Read in browser]( [Read in browser]( Local Politics Sun Jul 16 2023 [Ohio identity theft scheme targets BMV accounts: What you need to know]( [In 2020, at a time when many people were looking for a job, scammers were hard at work trying to trick Americans out of their money. Throughout the year, law enforcement reported 4.7 million instances of fraud, identity theft, and other scams. This shattered the previous record from 2019 by nearly 1.5 million reports. In total, Americans lost $3.3 billion to fraud last year. Though every state had hundreds, if not thousands, of reports of fraud, some state populations were much more prone to identity theft than others. A few states reported less than 100 incidents per 100,000 residents, while three states reported over 1,000 incidents per 100,000. 24/7 Wall St. reviewed data from the Federal Trade Commission's Consumer Sentinel Network Data Book to identify the states with the most and least identity theft. In 2020, by far the most common type of identity theft involved people fraudulently applying for government benefits. As the federal government offered loans to businesses and additional unemployment benefits because of the pandemic, there were nearly 400,000 reports of people fraudulently applying for or receiving benefits -- a nearly 3,000% increase from the previous year. In most cases, the person reporting fraud did not lose any money. Still, nearly three-quarters of a million Americans, just over a third of cases, were defrauded out of some money. The median loss in these cases was $311, yet nearly 40,000 Americans reported losing over $10,000 in some kind of criminal scam. There does not appear to be any common through line between the states with the most identity theft per capita. The states near the top of the list run the gamut between big and small populations, high and low income, and they are located all across the country. Some of the states with the most identity theft generally have low violent crime rates, while others rank among the most dangerous states in America.]( Scammers are using stolen personal information to answer BMV security questions and gain access to user accounts. Here's how to protect your account. [READ MORE]( Advertisement [Nov. 8, 2022; Columbus, Ohio, USA; A poll worker holds up voting stickers inside Christ the King School on East Livingston Avenue in Berwick on the morning of Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 8th. Mandatory Credit: Barbara J. Perenic/Columbus Dispatch]( [Issue 1 forum: How to watch and get your questions answered]( The Columbus Dispatch, Cincinnati Enquirer and Akron Beacon-Journal are working with Spectrum to host an Issue 1 forum to get your questions answered. [READ MORE]( [Beyonce accepts Best Dance/Electronic Music Album for onstage during the 65th GRAMMY Awards at Crypto.com Arena on Feb. 05, 2023 in Los Angeles, California.]( [For subscribers] [Fresh off Taylor Swift, can Cincinnati land Beyoncé on short notice?]( Hamilton County Commissioner Alicia Reece wants to know whether the county can convince Beyoncé to go a little further down the Ohio River. [READ MORE]( [Norfolk Southern Corp. operates a rail yard at 1276 W. Eighth St. in Queensgate, as the second largest rail service provider in Cincinnati. 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