South Florida has more than twice as much identity theft as other metro areas

South Florida has more than twice as much identity theft as other metro areas

When it comes to overall identity theft and credit card fraud complaints, Florida is No. 1 in the country, according to a recent report from NerdWallet.

The report also found that South Florida has the highest rate of identity theft among metro areas in the nation. There was more than twice as many identify theft complaints in South Florida than in No. 2 metro area of Seattle. More than 18,000 identity theft complaints were filled in South Florida, compared to approximately 7,500 complaints in the Seattle region, according to NerdWallet.

The San Francisco-based personal finance and data analysis site compared credit card fraud to other types of identity theft, using 2014 Federal Trade Commission data and identity theft data from December 2011 and September 2015.

There were 186.3 overall identity theft complaints per 100,000 residents in Florida, the most out of any state. Washington, the District of Columbia, Oregon and Missouri round of the five states with the most overall identity theft.

Florida is also No. 1 for: government document/benefit fraud complaints, with 96.1 per 100,000 residents; credit card fraud complaints, at 28.1 per 100,000 residents, and for bank fraud complaints, at 15.3 per 100,000 residents, according to the report.

The Sunshine State fared better in employment fraud complaints, falling to No. 8 with 5.1 complaints per 100,000 residents. Florida was No. 5 when it came to phone/utility fraud complaints, with 15 per 100,000 residents, according to NerdWallet.

Hawaii had the lowest rate of identity theft complaints among states, with Florida recording nearly fives time the number of identify theft complaints than Hawaii.

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