This month, the Federal Trade Commission published its 2017 Consumer Sentinel Network Data Book which, among other findings, ranks the states by population for identity theft reports. In this blog post, I will include the top 10 states for identity theft, as well as the types of identity theft for the top 5 states. Additionally, I’ll include the 5 safest states for identity theft (based on the most recent FTC Consumer Network Data Book).
First, a little about the report. Consumers report their experiences to the FTC, which the FTC then stores in the Consumer Sentinel Network, a secure online database. In 2017, the Sentinel received nearly 2.7 million consumer reports (slightly less than in 2016), which the FTC then sorts into the top 30 categories. According to the report, “credit card fraud tops the list of identity theft reports in 2017. The FTC received more than 133,000 reports from people who said their information was misused on an existing account or to open a new credit card account”
Top 10 states for identity theft
Here are the top 10 states for identity theft, along with the number of reports per 100K of population
- Michigan, 151 (15,027 total number of identity theft reports)
- Florida, 149 (31,167 total number of identity theft reports)
- California, 140 (55,418 total number of identity theft reports)
- Maryland, 129 (7,788 total number of identity theft reports)
- Nevada, 128 (3,828 total number of identity theft reports)
- Delaware, 126 (1,211 total number of identity theft reports)
- Illinois, 124 (15,841 total number of identity theft reports)
- Rhode Island, 123 (1,302 total number of identity theft reports)
- Georgia, 120 (12,548 total number of identity theft reports)
- Arizona, 119 (8,330 total number of identity theft reports)
Types of identity theft for top 5 states
- In Michigan Government Documents or Benefits fraud was the top type of identity theft, at 27 percent, followed closely by Employment or Tax-Related Fraud.
- In Florida, Credit Card Fraud came in as the top type of identity theft, at 40 percent, followed by Bank Fraud at 18 percent.
- In California, Credit Card Fraud came in as the top type of identity theft, at 43 percent, followed by Employment or Tax-Related Fraud at 20 percent.
- In Maryland, Credit Card Fraud came in as the top type of identity theft, at 35 percent, followed by Employment or Tax-Related Fraud at 26 percent.
- In Nevada, Credit Card Fraud came in as the top type of identity theft, at 39 percent, followed by Employment or Tax-Related Fraud at 32 percent.
5 Safest States
The top 5 safest states, statistically speaking, according to the 2017 Consumer Sentinel Network Data Book, are Maine (46th), Iowa (47th), Vermont (48th), West Virginia (49th) and South Dakota (50th).
The takeaway
Did you know the average identity theft victim spends up to hundreds of hours trying to repair the damage? If you have a membership for identity theft restoration, that time is significantly reduced.
LibertyID provides expert, full service, fully managed identity theft restoration to individuals, couples, extended families* and businesses. LibertyID has a 100% success rate in resolving all forms of identity fraud on behalf of our subscribers.
*Extended families – primary individual, their spouse/partner, both sets of parents (including those that have been deceased for up to a year), and all children under the age of 25