The Riskiest States for Identity Theft
The FTC has compiled a list of the worst states for identity theft and, for the second year in a row, Arizona tops the list with 142.5 victims per 100,000 people. Rounding out the top 10 are Nevada, California, Texas, Colorado, Florida, New York, Washington, Oregon and Illinois. Looking for a safe state?
Try North or South Dakota, which rank 49th and 50th, respectively. For an interactive map of all 50 states, click here. Even if you live in one of the 'bad' states, though, it's important to keep things in perspective, as the percentage of people affected is quite small (e.g., the numbers above work out to < 0.15% of all people in Arizona). If you're one of the affected few, then it really, really (really, really, really) sucks. But the odds of being hit by identity theft are still pretty slim, regardless of what you hear in the popular press.
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"The Riskiest States for Identity Theft" was first published at fivecentnickel.com
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