PROVIDENCE – Rhode Island ranked second in the nation for highest risk of identity theft crimes, according to a new U.S. News and World report.
The study analyzed data from the Federal Trade Commission, the Identity Theft Resource Center and the National Conference of State Legislatures to rank the states.
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The ranking was based on the incidence of identity theft reports from 2019-2021 per 100,000 people, the ratio of identity theft as a proportion of all fraud and the legal framework in each state, which looked at the presence of dedicated privacy laws and identity theft passport laws. Weighted scores for each factor were added to obtain the overall score determining a state’s position on the ranking.
At the top of the list, as most-at-risk state for identity theft, is Georgia, with a final score of 69.56, while the safest state for identity theft is Iowa, with a 12.87 score.
Rhode Island scored 57.08, making it the second-least-safe state for identity theft. Data from the Federal Trade Commission shows that the Ocean State ranked No. 28, No. 2 and then No. 1 in 2019, 2020 and 2021, respectively, for its per capita rates of identity theft. This pushed the state to the top of the at-risk list.
In comparison, Massachusetts ranked No. 10 in the U.S. News list, with a score of 43.08. Massachusetts ranked No. 23 for identity theft per 100,000 in 2019 and 2021, but its 2020 numbers – which made it rank No. 6 – offset the otherwise good ranking.
Rhode Island’s neighboring state of Connecticut ranked No. 31 in the nation. Its FTC ranking for identity theft per 100,000 remained relatively consistent through the years analyzed, ranking No. 22 in 2019, and then No. 34 in both 2020 and 2021.
The 10 most-at-risk states for identity theft are:
- Georgia
- Rhode Island
- Louisiana
- Illinois
- Texas
- Florida
- Kansas
- South Carolina
- Nevada
- Massachusetts
Claudia Chiappa is a PBN staff writer. You may contact her at Chiappa@PBN.com.
