Originally published September 4 2005
Arizona is the identity theft capital of America
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
Arizona attracts many people with prospects of golfing and sun, but it has also become the identity theft capital of America.
Golf and sun might attract people to Arizona, but the state is also becoming a hot spot for identity theft.
For the second year in a row, Arizona topped the Federal Trade Commission's list of states with the most identity-theft complaints, with 142.5 victims per 100,000 people in 2004.
Nevada and California followed closely behind with 125.7 and 122.1 victims per 100,000 people, respectively.
Because the FTC's Consumer Sentinel database relies on consumers to report the crimes, the number of actual victims is perhaps less interesting than the year-to-year trends.
And those show the same states -- Arizona, Nevada and California -- ranking highly while others like North Dakota and South Dakota sit securely at the bottom.
(You can see a list of the top 10 states here and an interactive map with all 50 states here.)
"The states play musical chairs, but it's always the same seven to 10 top players," says Linda Foley, co-executive director and founder of the Identity Theft Resource Center.
Identity theft, where con artists steal a victim's personal information and use it to pilfer existing accounts or open new ones in the victim's name, isn't quite the equal-opportunity crime it may have seemed.
Identity thieves blend into the crowd FTC spokesperson Claudia Bourne Farrell said no one knows why particular states routinely rank high or low.
But to Foley, it all makes perfect sense.
"If you're going to order a bunch of computers to use to steal people's identities, are you going to live in a little town in Montana where people know you and will ask questions?
Or are you going to live in a large population zone where you can basically blend into the crowd?"
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