Identity Theft Strikes Top Police Offficer
It’s becoming increasingly clear that identity theft can happen to anybody despite any precautions we might take. Joyce Dawley, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE)’s top agent in Orlando is the victim of identity theft. She told Eyewitness News she believes the crooks somehow got her personal information online. One Tuesday as she was sitting in her office, she logged into her bank account and witnessed her account being drained in front of her eyes.
She witnessed more than $5,000 being withdrawn from her account in a few minutes as somebody hundreds of miles away in New York City walked into a bank and withdrew funds from her account.
“Twenty seven hundred dollars had just been debited from that account, another $1,300 came out, by the time I was done talking on the phone, another $1,000 had come out,” said Dawley.
The woman accused of stealing the money walked into a Manhattan bank, said she had lost her purse but had Dawley’s social security number, name, and account number, which she passed off as her own. After withdrawing thousands of dollars, the woman walked down the street to another bank and did the exact same thing.
Dawley told Eyewitness News she believes someone hacked into her information online.
“I had not lost my wallet, I had not had anything stolen, no one broke into my home or my car,” said Dawley.
Orlando police investigated the case, which has since been turned over to authorities in New York.
Florida is one of the two top states for identity theft, with millions of people falling victim each year.