Washington ranked second in the U.S. in rates of identity theft complaints and reports of government documents or benefits fraud over the last four years, according to an analysis of government data from the personal finance website NerdWallet.
The report looked at identity theft complaint rates per 100,000 residents tracked by the Federal Trade Commission from December 2011 to Sept. 14.
The report doesn’t offer reasons why one region or another might see more complaints, or what kind of complaints, but its author, NerdWallet analyst Sreekar Jasthi, said one factor to consider is that the report is an analysis of complaints.
“When things like identity theft, or preventing identity theft, are publicized more in a certain area, complaints tend to be higher, because people are more aware,” Jasthi said.
Washington and Oregon were both in the top five for overall identity theft complaints and for complaints of government information and benefits-related fraud over those years. Oregon came in third for government information-related fraud complaints and fourth for overall identity theft complaints. Florida came in first.
Government information and benefits-related fraud was the most commonly reported type of identity theft in the FTC’s data, at 39 percent of the total. That covers stolen Social Security numbers, tax data or identification information, Jasthi said.
The rate and number of complaints recorded in both states varied over the time period, but they doubled from 2013 to 2014, he said.
In 2014, Albertsons stores were victim of a large data breach.
“When things like that happen, people are generally on higher alert, and tend to notice these type of things and report these complaints at a higher rate,” Jasthi said.
Washington’s rate of identity for that time was 154.8 thefts per 100,000 people. Florida’s per-capita number of complaints was highest at 186.3 complaints per 100,000.
Also, the site’s analysts found the Portland-Vancouver metro area has the seventh-highest rate for identity theft complaints among U.S. cities over the last four years. The Miami-Fort Lauderdale metropolitan area was No. 1.
For complaints of fraud involving government documents or benefits, Washington saw 85.7 complaints per 100,000.
Jasthi said another reason why some states see higher complaint rates is a function of population: Fraudsters need marks. More people, more marks.
South Dakota — with a 2014 population of about 850,000 — had the lowest per capita rate of complaints, with 36.3 per 100,000 residents.
Furthermore, identity theft victims more commonly have higher incomes, which may keep scams aimed toward higher-density areas, he said, which tend to skew wealthier.
Older people are ripe targets for identity theft anecdotally, he said, which might be another factor contributing to high complaint rates in Florida and its metropolitan areas.
The Federal Trade Commission said 10 percent of fraud complaints in 2014 were made by people 70 and older. Eighteen percent came from people age 60 to 69, and 21 percent from people 50 to 59.
Alison Dempsey-Hall, a spokeswoman for the state Attorney General’s Office, said the state tracks identity theft and cases differently from the FTC.
She said records of complaints on the consumer end, which often come to the Attorney General’s Office as identity theft cases, might not always be so helpful for tracking real instances of fraud or identity theft: The two, despite their similarities, are distinct crimes.
Also, Washington consumers may be more technically savvy relative to those in other states.
“They may be more likely to complain to us or inform us if and when they are actual victims of identity theft,” she said. “So, our numbers have always trended a little higher than other states.”
Total complaints with the FTC have, for the most part, increased since 2001, when the agency started collecting complaint information from private groups and public agencies.
Last year saw almost 2.6 million total consumer complaints, which includes fraud and identity theft reports. That’s up from 2.2 million in 2013 and 860,000 in 2004, but the number of groups reporting to the Federal Trade Commission has grown since the agency started recording complaints.
In 2014, victims paid more than $1.7 billion related to those complaints, according to the Federal Trade Commission.
The Department of Justice’s estimates for direct and indirect costs for identity theft are much higher, and total totaled $24.7 billion in 2012.
