Prevention Starts With Ordinary Routines
Crime prevention is not a promise that an incident cannot happen. It is a repeatable process for reducing opportunity, detecting problems sooner, and knowing which official route to use. Start with the people, places, accounts, vehicles, devices, and routines whose loss or compromise would cause the most harm. Then choose a small number of safeguards that household members can actually follow.
Write down emergency contacts, medications, meeting points, trusted neighbors or relatives, insurer and financial-institution numbers, device serial numbers, and where critical documents are stored. Review the plan after a move, new caregiver, job change, major purchase, threatening contact, or account compromise. For immediate danger or a crime in progress, call 911; do not delay an official report while trying to gather proof or arrange private surveillance.
Reduce Exposure at Home and in Public
Use working exterior lighting, maintained doors and windows, controlled spare keys, visible address numbers for responders, and a routine for locking vehicles and removing valuables. Do not advertise an empty home through public travel posts, piled deliveries, or predictable check-ins. Cameras and alarms can add notice and documentation, but placement, account security, retention settings, neighbor privacy, and maintenance matter more than the number of devices.
In public, keep phones and keys accessible, avoid distractions in parking areas, and leave a location if something feels unsafe. If a person appears to be following or threatening you, move toward a staffed public place or police/fire location and call for help rather than driving home or confronting them. Families should agree on how children and older adults verify an unexpected pickup, visitor, repair worker, or urgent request for money.
Protect Identity and Financial Accounts
Reduce the personal information carried, discarded, posted, and shared with unsolicited contacts. Review statements and credit reports, collect mail promptly, shred sensitive paper, and verify financial requests using a phone number or website you already know. The Florida Attorney General publishes state-specific identity-theft prevention guidance covering financial records, mail, and online disclosure.
If identity theft occurs, contact affected institutions promptly, change compromised access, and follow an official recovery plan. The Attorney General's Florida Identity Theft Victim Kit describes reporting and recovery steps for Floridians. Keep confirmation numbers, letters, statements, a chronology, and copies of reports; do not pay a supposed investigator or recovery service that guarantees stolen funds or identity records will be restored.
Secure Devices and Online Accounts
Use a password manager with unique passwords, enable multifactor authentication, install software updates, and learn to recognize and report phishing. Those are the four core actions in CISA's Secure Our World guidance. Protect the email account used for password resets first, then financial, cloud-storage, social, and mobile-provider accounts. Review recovery email addresses, phone numbers, active sessions, forwarding rules, and connected applications.
Do not give a caller a verification code or remote access because they claim to represent a bank, government agency, technology company, or investigator. When a message creates urgency, contact the organization through an independently located channel. Preserve the complete message, sender address or number, profile URL, payment instructions, and transaction identifiers before deleting or blocking it. Our account-compromise checklist covers immediate containment.
Report First, Then Preserve Useful Evidence
After an incident, prioritize safety and the correct official report. Use local law enforcement for crimes, the financial institution for unauthorized transactions, the platform for account abuse, and the relevant regulator or reporting center for fraud. The Florida Attorney General's CyberFraud resources explain how consumer complaints and referrals can support government investigations.
Preserve what you already possess lawfully: original messages and media, full URLs, usernames, dates, receipts, account notices, witness contact details, damage photographs, report numbers, and a factual timeline. Do not enter another person's account, trespass, arrange a confrontation, or circulate sensitive images to “investigate” on your own. A licensed PI may later help counsel locate a witness, verify an identity or public-record trail, or document a defined fact, but cannot replace police, compel cooperation, or guarantee prevention or recovery.
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