Unfortunately, identity theft is the fastest growing crime in the United States. It is estimated that as many as 9 million Americans have their identities stolen each year, and that number continues to get larger.
As thieves get smarter, they find new ways to steal your personal information. There are many ways your identity can be stolen, such as a thief skimming your credit card, phishing businesses, and it can be as easy as someone just stealing your wallet.
In a new analysis released by a law office in Northern California, they found the cities with the most identity theft reported. To do this, they collected 2018 data from the U.S. Treasury to determine the number of white-collar crimes that occurred in the 100 largest cities around the U.S., relative to the city’s population. The company says, they used that data to determine which cities experience the most white-collar crime overall, and also which cities see the most of various common types of white-collar crime including identity theft, forgery, and embezzlement.
So, where in the U.S. should you be most concerned about identity theft? According to the analysis, Columbus, OH saw the highest number of identity theft crimes per 10,000 people with 367.89 in 2018. Columbus’ total was more than double the next city on the list, San Francisco with 138.67. Completing the top 5 cities were Charlotte, NC; San Jose, CA; and Miami, FL.
If you were wondering where white collar crime is the most common overall, Richmond, VA. took that title with a total of 7,504.23 white-collar crimes per 10,000 people. Its total was way above the next city on the list, Miami, FL, with 4,237.27 white-collar crimes per 10,000 people.
To see if your city made the list for any of the categories, click here.
