- Hackers have been stealing the identities of the fatal victims in the
Florida condo collapse. - Surfside Mayor Charles Burkett told Insider that police will track down the criminals responsible.
- It was not clear how many victims were targeted or how.
Heartless hackers have been stealing the identities of victims who were killed in the Florida condo building collapse, an official confirmed to Insider Friday.
The criminals have committed identity theft against more than one victim in the collapse of the Champlain Towers South in Surfside, Surfside Mayor Charles Burkett said.
"It is an active investigation, but it's very disturbing and worse than that to me because it's re-victimizing all our victims," Burkett told Insider, "and we are not going to stand for that."
WPLG Local 10 first reported on the
Officials have told the families of the victims who died in the collapse to check on their credit and contact the Social Security offices, Burkett said.
"We want everyone to take steps to lock their credit down," the mayor said, adding, "We're going to track down the people responsible for this and we're going arrest them and make an example of them."
Burkett could not provide any additional information regarding how the hackers managed to steal victims' identities, saying that it is "part of the investigation."
It was not clear how many victims were targeted in the scheme.
Sgt. Marian Cruz of the Surfside Police Department told Insider, "We are still in the early stages of the investigation. In order to protect the integrity of the case and prevent any further victimization, we are not releasing any details at this time."
Nearly 100 people have been confirmed dead in the June 24 partial collapse of the 12-story, oceanfront condo building.