West Palm Beach Woman Charged with Identity Theft
Florida is no stranger to identity theft. Florida is currently ranked number 6 in identity theft on a per-capita basis ranking up 16,062 victims of identity theft. So it’s no surprise that a lot of identity theft stories come out of Florida these days. Florida is close to my heart because I lived there for several years so these stories always grab my attention.
Erika Morales, 35, has been charged with 25 counts of identity theft and is currently being held at the Palm Beach County Jail.
According to the sheriff’s press release, detectives became aware of the identity theft when Florida Power and Light Co. managers figured out that she was using compromised or stolen identities to open accounts. She is being charged with intellectual properties, organized scheme to defraud, criminal use of personnel identification information and grand and petit theft. She is currently being held without bail.
I enjoy stories like these because it proves that some identity thieves aren’t that smart. If you are going to steal someone’s identity don’t allow the discovery of the theft to lead back to you. I mean come on, if someone discovered that you were not the person you said you were they know where you live because they are supplying your home with power, cable, or what have you.
I am not sure if utility or cable companies in Florida have a identity theft programs or not but if they don’t they should. I hear a lot stories about identity thieves defrauding the cable and utility companies and if they had a robust system for detecting this kind of fraud it could catch a lot of identity thieves in my opinion. They are taking big steps to prevent identity theft at the DMV so why not utilities and cable.
Tags: ID theft, identity theft