2020’s States Most Vulnerable to Identity Theft & Fraud

More than eight in 10 U.S. adults (83%) are concerned about having their identity stolen and the level of distress of this crime occurring has increased for nearly one-third (32%) of Americans since the COVID-19 pandemic began. Since the onset of the pandemic, 10% of U.S. adults report being a victim of identity theft according to a Trans Union survey.

The survey also revealed also observed types of fraud that are impacting both government agencies and consumers. Unemployment benefits and tax return fraud, among others, are challenging for government agencies because consumers have high expectations concerning the security of their accounts.

With businesses such as Marriott and Nintendo experiencing data breaches this year but the number of breaches down from 2019, the free credit-monitoring website WalletHub today released its report on 2020’s States Most Vulnerable to Identity Theft & Fraud.

To determine where Americans are most susceptible to such crimes, they compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia across 14 key metrics. The data set ranges from identity-theft complaints per capita to the average loss amount due to fraud.

In addition, WalletHub offers an Identity Theft Guide and free credit monitoring to help consumers handle or prevent the damaging effects of cybercrimes.

Key Stats

• South Dakota has the fewest identity-theft complaints (per 100,000 residents), 47, which is 9.1 times fewer than in Georgia, the state with the most at 427.
• Hawaii has the fewest people arrested for fraud per capita, 0.000086, which is 15.7 times fewer than in Delaware, the state with the most at 0.001352.
• South Dakota has the fewest fraud complaints (per 100,000 residents), 366, which is three times fewer than in the District of Columbia, which has the most at 1,090.
• Wisconsin has the lowest median loss amount due to fraud, $236, which is 1.7 times lower than in Hawaii, the state with the highest at $399.

WalletHub Q & A with Experts

Should victims of identity theft be able to change their Social Security number? How can we make this number more difficult to steal and use (e.g., add more digits)?

“Interestingly, social security numbers are now considered some kind of secret that only the owner would know,” said Eugene Y. Vasserman, PhD, Kansas State University. “They were never meant to be — they were supposed to be used more like user names than passwords. They are short and predictable, and therefore do not make good secrets. The same is true for driver license numbers in many states. They were simply not designed to be used as secret information. Instead of changing the social security number itself, I would suggest changing how it is used and moving away from the assumption that if you know someone's social security number then that means you are that person.”

“It is already possible but difficult,” said Steven Michael Bellovin, Columbia University.

“Changing a social security number is a rare and often arduous process,: said Tony Coulson, PhD, Jack H. Brown College at California State University, San Bernardino. “While some have suggested changing the system to an encrypted number with some sophisticated technology, those solutions are years off. States like California have led the nation in protecting social security numbers. Making them more difficult to obtain is likely a key to solving social security fraud.”

What are some common COVID-19 related scams and fraud attempts people should be vigilant about?

“We have seen a huge number of COVID phishing sites claiming to provide all sorts of fraudulent PPE, and of course, a fair number of fake sites asking for donations to various health organizations. I wrote a blog for RSA on this topic,” said Salvatore J. Stolfo, Columbia University.

“You can be sure that once a vaccine is announced, there will be a huge number of phishing sites set up to trick people into giving up their personal information in order to be "first online".

“Home vaccination kits are probably the most prevalent COVID-19 scam out there,” said Ken Dewey, MS, MA, BS – CISSP, CCFE, CEH, CHFI, EnCE, ACE, VEP, Cloud Essentials, MCSE, Security+, A+, Net+, iNet+, CNA, CNSS 4011-4016, Rose State College. “These have not been tested or approved by the FDA and should be avoided. Emails or texts asking for COVID-19 donations have also been on the rise, do not ever donate or provide personal information to anyone you do not know. If you want to donate, contact the company directly and do not even reply to an email or text.”

“Anything that requires people to register to get medical benefits or vaccines is probably a fraud,” said Eugene H. Spafford, Purdue CERIAS – Purdue University. “If you receive any email about COVID-19, do not respond. Instead, call your county health department or doctor’s office to see if they know anything about it.”

“Anything that says you must respond NOW or within the next 2 days should also be carefully examined — a common scam is to make things seem urgent, so people do not do the background investigation to determine that they are fake.”

To view the full report and your state or the District’s rank, please visit:

https://wallethub.com/edu/states-where-identity-theft-and-fraud-are-worst/17549/