Due to deception tactics fueled by artificial intelligence (AI), the Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC) has reported astonishing data about identity-related crimes. Of the 9,000+ crimes that were reported between 2024 and 2025, 52% involved the misuse of personal information and 35% involved data compromises.
It also turns out that 51% of scammers often impersonate businesses, with 32% of cases involving the impersonation of government agencies, and 21% impersonating financial institutions. These types of scams often involve spoofed emails, fake websites, and fraudulent customer service lines where sensitive information like social security numbers, payment details, and driver's license numbers are illegally collected.
If you get a call from your bank asking for money, and you are unsure of the validity of the call, hang up and call your bank to ask if the request is a valid one. This would also allow you the opportunity to let your bank know this is an issue they have to address to protect their clients.
If it's an email, never click on a link if you do not know who the email is from. Furthermore, many scam emails will show the name of a person you might know as the sender, but the email address will be a funky email address so always double check the email addresss the message is coming from!
To spot a fake website, check the URL for misspellings, look for HTTPS and a padlock, examine the design for poor quality or grammar, verify contact info and policies (Privacy, Returns), research reviews and domain age (using Whois), and be suspicious of deals that seem too good to be true or urgent language.
Let's make sure we are doing what we can to protect what is ours!
