SANTA ANA, Calif. – The nation recognizes the week of January 27 to January 31 as National Identify Theft Awareness Week to provide information of interest to County consumers to protect their money.
Chair Doug Chaffee and Treasurer Shari L. Freidenrich are leading the education efforts for Identify Theft Awareness Week. This is a yearly event promoted by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) with proclamations issued by the President of the United States.
“We live in an electronic age where every type of financial transaction is available and often conducted through the internet,” said Chair Doug Chaffee, Fourth District. “It’s my hope that the public will educate themselves in order to avoid become a victim of identity theft. To facilitate these efforts, my office will be hosting a Senior Fraud Prevention event at the Stanton Community Center on Thursday, February 27 at 9:30 a.m. For more information about this event, please visit https://d4.ocgov.com/senior-fraud-prevention-event
“Identity theft and phishing is a massive problem in society today,” said Treasurer Shari Freidenrich. “Requesting a copy of your annual credit report is an excellent way to combat identify theft, go to consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0155-free-credit-reports or call 1-877-322-8228 and reports can be requested weekly.”
In 2023, the FTC received 2.6 million victim reports describing more losing more than $10 billion to fraud – a 14% jump in losses in one year. Imposter scams, when someone pretended to be a trusted period or business, led to losses of $2.7 billion.
During Identify Theft Awareness Week a flyer and materials will be distributed at the County Service Center and focus on identity theft, scams, small business and internet safety for children. In addition, the FTC will be hosting a series of free online seminars and other events on how to avoid and recover from identify fraud, scan the QR code or go to consumer.ftc.gov/features/identity-theft-awareness-week. The Service Center is located at 601 Ross St., Santa Ana. A parking map is available at octreasurer.gov/octaxparking.
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