This Is How Common Identity Theft Is in California

 

Throughout 2020, law enforcement reported 4.7 million cases of fraud, identity theft, and other scams. This shattered the previous record, from 2019, by nearly 1.5 million reports. In total, Americans lost $3.3 billion to fraud last year.

 

Though every state reported hundreds, if not thousands, of cases of fraud, the populations of some states were much more prone to identity theft than others. A few states reported less than 100 incidents per 100,000 residents, while three states reported over 1,000 incidents per 100,000.

 

24/7 Wall St. reviewed data from the Federal Trade Commission's Consumer Sentinel Network Data Book to identify the states with the most and least identity theft.

 

By far the most common type of identity theft in 2020 involved people fraudulently applying for government benefits. As the federal government offered loans to businesses and additional unemployment benefits to Americans because of the pandemic, there were nearly 400,000 reports of people fraudulently applying for or receiving benefits -- a nearly 3,000% increase from the previous year.

 

In 2020, California residents reported 147,382 different incidents of identity theft, or 373 incidents for every 100,000 residents -- the 15th highest rate of identity theft among states.

 

Credit card fraud ranked as the most commonly reported type of identity theft in California, accounting for 45% of all identity theft reports. The second most commonly reported form of identity theft was the category of other identity theft, which can include theft of online shopping accounts, email and social media accounts, and more. That type was cited in 27% of all reports.

 

24/7 Wall St. reviewed data from the Federal Trade Commission's Consumer Sentinel Network Data Book to identify the states with the most and least identity theft per capita. These are the states with the most identity theft.

 

Rank	State	ID theft reports per 100K	Total ID theft reports	Most common theft type
50	South Dakota	72	637	Credit Card Fraud
49	Iowa	96	3,022	Credit Card Fraud
48	Nebraska	113	2,182	Government Documents or Benefits Fraud
47	Alaska	127	926	Credit Card Fraud
46	Kentucky	127	5,693	Other Identity Theft
45	Vermont	130	810	Government Documents or Benefits Fraud
44	Idaho	132	2,353	Credit Card Fraud
43	Minnesota	146	8,246	Government Documents or Benefits Fraud
42	West Virginia	148	2,646	Government Documents or Benefits Fraud
41	Wyoming	151	875	Government Documents or Benefits Fraud
40	Wisconsin	154	8,986	Credit Card Fraud
39	New Mexico	165	3,454	Government Documents or Benefits Fraud
38	North Dakota	166	1,266	Government Documents or Benefits Fraud
37	New Hampshire	169	2,301	Government Documents or Benefits Fraud
36	Oregon	176	7,432	Credit Card Fraud
35	Virginia	183	15,632	Credit Card Fraud
34	Connecticut	191	6,821	Credit Card Fraud
33	Ohio	222	25,893	Government Documents or Benefits Fraud
32	Missouri	222	13,653	Other Identity Theft
31	Montana	228	2,439	Government Documents or Benefits Fraud
30	Michigan	244	24,370	Government Documents or Benefits Fraud
29	Indiana	257	17,306	Government Documents or Benefits Fraud
28	Pennsylvania	265	33,886	Credit Card Fraud
27	Hawaii	271	3,835	Government Documents or Benefits Fraud
26	Tennessee	281	19,182	Other Identity Theft
25	North Carolina	288	30,176	Other Identity Theft
24	Utah	292	9,366	Other Identity Theft
23	Maryland	343	20,718	Credit Card Fraud
22	New York	345	67,202	Credit Card Fraud
21	Oklahoma	349	13,797	Government Documents or Benefits Fraud
20	Alabama	354	17,376	Credit Card Fraud
19	Colorado	361	20,762	Government Documents or Benefits Fraud
18	New Jersey	362	32,125	Credit Card Fraud
17	Mississippi	371	11,048	Other Identity Theft
16	South Carolina	373	19,193	Other Identity Theft
15	California	373	147,382	Credit Card Fraud
14	Arizona	380	27,661	Government Documents or Benefits Fraud
13	Delaware	449	4,374	Credit Card Fraud
12	Texas	465	134,788	Other Identity Theft
11	Florida	472	101,367	Credit Card Fraud
10	Louisiana	473	21,976	Loan or Lease Fraud
9	Maine	534	7,183	Government Documents or Benefits Fraud
8	Arkansas	579	17,470	Government Documents or Benefits Fraud
7	Georgia	654	69,487	Credit Card Fraud
6	Massachusetts	661	45,575	Government Documents or Benefits Fraud
5	Washington	712	54,247	Government Documents or Benefits Fraud
4	Nevada	740	22,801	Government Documents or Benefits Fraud
3	Illinois	1,066	135,038	Government Documents or Benefits Fraud
2	Rhode Island	1,191	12,621	Government Documents or Benefits Fraud
1	Kansas	1,483	43,211	Government Documents or Benefits Fraud

 

 Source: Center Square