The personal finance website WalletHub today issued its research on the States Most Vulnerable to Identity Theft & Fraud, along with expert analysis, to determine where consumers are most at danger of financial loss. Last year, scams cost Americans $10 billion.
WalletHub examined 14 important measures to compare the 50 states and the District of Columbia. The data set includes average fraud losses as well as the number of identity theft complaints per capita.
According to WalletHub’s research on the States Most Vulnerable to Identity Theft & Fraud, South Carolina is ranked 15th overall, highlighting the state’s moderate susceptibility to identity-related crimes and financial frauds. Despite ranking 13th in fraud and 19th in identity theft, South Carolina’s policy score of 13 demonstrates efforts to address these problems through protection and prevention measures. The state’s performance shows that it can do better, particularly in protecting citizens against fraud, which is still a major problem in the country.
| Overall Rank* | State | Total Score | Identity Theft Rank | Fraud Rank | Policy Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | District of Columbia | 73.48 | 1 | 8 | 1 |
| 2 | Delaware | 66.34 | 6 | 1 | 32 |
| 3 | California | 60.83 | 4 | 9 | 41 |
| 4 | South Dakota | 59.59 | 7 | 11 | 3 |
| 5 | Florida | 59.06 | 18 | 2 | 32 |
| 6 | Nevada | 58.50 | 13 | 4 | 19 |
| 7 | Connecticut | 57.05 | 2 | 41 | 32 |
| 8 | Arizona | 56.78 | 16 | 3 | 48 |
| 9 | Texas | 54.97 | 12 | 10 | 41 |
| 10 | Iowa | 54.78 | 3 | 38 | 37 |
| 11 | Georgia | 54.23 | 15 | 7 | 41 |
| 12 | Minnesota | 53.95 | 8 | 21 | 26 |
| 13 | Colorado | 52.98 | 11 | 25 | 19 |
| 14 | New Jersey | 52.67 | 9 | 37 | 3 |
| 15 | South Carolina | 52.64 | 19 | 13 | 13 |
Important Statistics
- South Dakota has the fewest identity-theft complaints (per 100,000 residents), 5.1 times fewer than in the District of Columbia, the state with the most.
- The District of Columbia has the fewest people arrested for fraud per capita, 20.7 times fewer than in Delaware, the state with the most.
- South Dakota has the fewest fraud complaints (per 100,000 residents), 3.2 times fewer than in the District of Columbia, which has the most.
- Kentucky has the lowest median loss amount due to fraud, 2.1 times lower than in Alaska, the state with the highest.
Please visit this link to see the complete report and the rank of your state or district: https://wallethub.com/edu/states-where-identity-theft-and-fraud-are-worst/17549
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