A Georgia State University professor who studies online fraud visited several Miami Beach addresses he says criminals used to set up fake businesses with stolen identities. CBS News Miami went along as David Maimon knocked on doors at the locations. He said the identities belong to people who no longer live in the United States.
Maimon leads a cybersecurity research group at the university and also works for an identity verification firm. He said his work involves studying the online fraud ecosystem to find ways to stop it.
According to Maimon, dark net marketplaces often sell stolen identities for about $100. Thieves use those records to register fraudulent businesses, open bank accounts and obtain lines of credit, which defrauds financial institutions.
He said he picked addresses linked to large numbers of stolen identities that were used during customer onboarding at financial institutions. Maimon has done similar research in Southern California with CBS News Miami’s sister station in Los Angeles.
To protect themselves, Maimon recommends that residents check their credit reports often and consider signing up for identity theft protection services.
