"Identity Theft Spikes Due to COVID-19 Relief"

According to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), cases of identity theft in the United States doubled in 2020, mainly due to cybercriminals taking advantage of people affected economically by COVID-19 who filed to receive government benefits.  According to researchers, the FTC received about 1.4 million reports of identity theft last year.  In 2020, there were 394,280 reports about government benefits fraud compared with 12,900 reports in 2019. There were also 99,650 cases of fraud involving business or personal loans, compared with 43,920 reports in 2019.  In 2020, the FTC got 89,390 reports of tax-identity theft, compared with 27,450 reports in 2019.

Threatpost reports: "Identity Theft Spikes Due to COVID-19 Relief"