GARDEN STATE HIT NO. 2 FOR ID THEFT — SCAMMERS LOVE JERSEY

A new national study says New Jersey is the second-most at-risk state in America for identity theft, with residents losing big when crooks get their hands on personal info.

If you live in New Jersey, your name, number and credit line are hot commodities.

A new WalletHub report on “States Most Vulnerable to Identity Theft & Fraud” ranks the Garden State No. 2 in the nation for identity-theft risk, behind only California. The study compares all 50 states and Washington, D.C., using 14 metrics, including identity theft complaints per capita, fraud reports and average loss amounts.

The report looks at how often people report identity theft, how much money they lose when it happens, and how well states protect consumers. New Jersey lands toward the top of the heap on all the wrong lists: more complaints, bigger dollar losses, and a steady stream of residents saying someone has opened accounts, taken out loans or gone on shopping sprees in their name.

For crooks, Jersey is an easy sell:

• Dense population
• High internet and smartphone use
• Plenty of online shopping and banking

Put that together and you get a prime testing ground for phishing texts, fake “bank alerts,” bogus delivery messages and too-good-to-be-true offers that exist for one reason only — to get you to hand over numbers, codes or access.

Federal data underscore the trend. The Federal Trade Commission’s Consumer Sentinel Network reports that Americans lost more than $10 billion to fraud in 2023, the first time losses topped that mark. Newer figures show losses climbed again to about $12.5 billion in 2024, a 25% jump in just one year.

Experts say the classic stories haven’t gone away — stolen mail, dumpster-diving for old bills, a lost wallet that turns into a nightmare — but the bigger threat is now digital. Many victims never see the criminal, the device or even the first fraudulent charge until the damage is done.

New Jersey law technically throws the book at identity thieves. Under the state’s criminal code, impersonation and identity theft can be charged as anything from a low-level offense all the way up to a second-degree crime in major schemes involving multiple victims or large dollar amounts. On paper, the penalties are stiff. In practice, scammers are still treating the state like an ATM.

HOW THEY GET YOU

The most common plays showing up in complaints, according to law enforcement and consumer advocates:

• Phishing and “smishing”: Emails or texts that look like they’re from your bank, your delivery service or even the government, asking you to “verify” information or click a link.
• Account takeovers: Criminals reset your password, log in as you, change the contact info and drain accounts before you even know you’re locked out.
• New-account fraud: Using stolen Social Security numbers and other data to open credit cards, personal loans or buy-now-pay-later accounts in your name.
• Shopping-site scams: Fake online stores that grab your card and never send the product, or checkout pages that skim your payment info.

Once your data is out there, it can be sold and re-sold on criminal marketplaces, which is why some victims see one wave of fraud followed by another months or even years later.

HOW NOT TO BE EASY PICKINGS

Officials urge New Jersey residents to assume their information is already in the wild somewhere and act accordingly:

• Lock down your logins. Use long, unique passwords for banking, email and shopping. If a site offers two-factor authentication, turn it on.
• Treat surprise messages like traps. Don’t click links in unsolicited texts or emails, even if they look “official.” Go directly to the bank or company website instead.
• Watch your statements. Check bank and credit-card activity regularly and set up alerts for new transactions or logins.
• Monitor your credit. Pull your free credit reports and look for accounts you don’t recognize. Consider a credit freeze if you’re not planning a major loan.
• Shred, don’t toss. Anything with your name, address, account numbers or Social Security number should be shredded, not thrown out intact.

Victims are advised to report identity theft to local police, notify their banks and card issuers immediately, and file complaints with federal consumer agencies and the credit bureaus. The FTC publishes detailed annual fraud and identity theft figures in its Consumer Sentinel Network Data Book series. Keeping a written log of phone calls, letters and case numbers can help when it comes time to clear fraudulent debts and repair a damaged credit file.

New Jersey may be sitting near the top of the national rankings for identity theft right now, but for residents, the message is blunt: act like your identity is already under attack — because somewhere, someone is probably trying to make that true.