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, Illinois residents reported 135,038 different incidents of identity theft, or 1,066 incidents for every 100,000 residents — the third highest rate of identity theft among states.
Government documents or benefits fraud ranked as the most commonly reported type of identity theft in Illinois, accounting for 73% of all identity theft reports. The second most commonly reported form of identity theft was credit card fraud. That type was cited in 11% 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.
RankStateID theft reports per 100KTotal ID theft reportsMost common theft type50South Dakota72637Credit Card Fraud49Iowa963,022Credit Card Fraud48Nebraska1132,182Government Documents or Benefits Fraud47Alaska127926Credit Card Fraud46Kentucky1275,693Other Identity Theft45Vermont130810Government Documents or Benefits Fraud44Idaho1322,353Credit Card Fraud43Minnesota1468,246Government Documents or Benefits Fraud42West Virginia1482,646Government Documents or Benefits Fraud41Wyoming151875Government Documents or Benefits Fraud40Wisconsin1548,986Credit Card Fraud39New Mexico1653,454Government Documents or Benefits Fraud38North Dakota1661,266Government Documents or Benefits Fraud37New Hampshire1692,301Government Documents or Benefits Fraud36Oregon1767,432Credit Card Fraud35Virginia18315,632Credit Card Fraud34Connecticut1916,821Credit Card Fraud33Ohio22225,893Government Documents or Benefits Fraud32Missouri22213,653Other Identity Theft31Montana2282,439Government Documents or Benefits Fraud30Michigan24424,370Government Documents or Benefits Fraud29Indiana25717,306Government Documents or Benefits Fraud28Pennsylvania26533,886Credit Card Fraud27Hawaii2713,835Government Documents or Benefits Fraud26Tennessee28119,182Other Identity Theft25North Carolina28830,176Other Identity Theft24Utah2929,366Other Identity Theft23Maryland34320,718Credit Card Fraud22New York34567,202Credit Card Fraud21Oklahoma34913,797Government Documents or Benefits Fraud20Alabama35417,376Credit Card Fraud19Colorado36120,762Government Documents or Benefits Fraud18New Jersey36232,125Credit Card Fraud17Mississippi37111,048Other Identity Theft16South Carolina37319,193Other Identity Theft15California373147,382Credit Card Fraud14Arizona38027,661Government Documents or Benefits Fraud13Delaware4494,374Credit Card Fraud12Texas465134,788Other Identity Theft11Florida472101,367Credit Card Fraud10Louisiana47321,976Loan or Lease Fraud9Maine5347,183Government Documents or Benefits Fraud8Arkansas57917,470Government Documents or Benefits Fraud7Georgia65469,487Credit Card Fraud6Massachusetts66145,575Government Documents or Benefits Fraud5Washington71254,247Government Documents or Benefits Fraud4Nevada74022,801Government Documents or Benefits Fraud3Illinois1,066135,038Government Documents or Benefits Fraud2Rhode Island1,19112,621Government Documents or Benefits Fraud1Kansas1,48343,211Government Documents or Benefits Fraud
