Washington D.C. — The words "Identity Theft" are so common these days, you may zone out when you hear them.
Most people don’t think it will ever happen to them.
Here’s why you should care: Ohio is ranked 3rd in the nation for ID theft according to a new study by WalletHub and is 1st in the amount of money lost to it.
The personal finance website compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia to determine who would most likely be exposed to identity theft and fraud. Several factors went into the study, including the number of complaints per capita, fraud arrests, and average loss due to fraud.
Last year, there were more than 9,000 complaints filed in Ohio with the Federal Trade Commission. That may not sound like a lot. But they told us those complaints came from consumers and law enforcement, not a survey. So, they know the real numbers are much higher.
One local couple is a part of those statistics. Like many, they say they never thought their identity would be stolen.
"When we originally got hacked we just thought this was so crazy," they told us.
But it's happened more than a dozen times. That’s despite the fact they had all three credit agencies monitoring their accounts after the first time. So now, they don’t want to be identified for fear it will open them up to more fraud.
"We've been told that you need to change your password. So, we have not one or two books, we have three or four books that we keep," they said.
Their story sounds extreme. But if your identity gets stolen, it's game on. Because your information is out there and up for sale to other thieves.
Part of the reason we are so vulnerable in Ohio is the way we use the internet. That’s about to heat up as we head into the holiday online shopping season.
Max Eddy of PC Magazine says that anytime we use WiFi, "We need to keep in mind we are potentially opening ourselves up to surveillance and to having our data removed from us.”
A recent PC Magazine study showed that 55% of Ohioans are willing to share personal information in order to get free WiFi, which is a hacker’s paradise.
"The worst-case scenario is someone on the network that you are connected to, or perhaps someone who is managing the network, has control of the WiFi hotspot and is intercepting all your traffic. So, in that case it's called the ‘man-in-the-middle attack’, where they can see everything coming from your device and going to your device,” Eddy explained.
Even the ones in hotels or planes, where they ask for a security code or password are not completely safe. Scammers can set up fake WiFi networks to mimic the real ones.
“There was some data from a company called Skycure, years ago, that found a Boingo airport hotspot in the middle of Queens (New York), miles and miles away from JFK or from any other airport. Somebody had set up a network there with the same name as a commonly used WiFi network in order to trick devices into connecting to it, which can happen automatically,” Eddy told us.
And once your identity is stolen, it’s a nightmare trying to make things right.
Our couple told us they called the police but, "They just kinda chuckled and said, ‘yeah this happens all the time’.”
The Ohio husband and wife don’t know how their ID got stolen, just that they'll be spending the rest of their lives looking over their shoulders.
"Even if you live under a rock, I don't think you're safe," they said.
If you're using WiFi, Eddy says you need to download what's called a Virtual Private Network or VPN on your Device to protect yourself. Some are free, while others are as low as three dollars a month. The downside of the free ones is they could be selling your information to a marketer.
Here are some tips from PC Magazine: