Michigan Rated Worst State In The Country For Identity Theft

A new report claims that Michigan has the highest rate of identity theft per capita in the country.  The report was put together by 24/7 Wall St. and uses information from the Federal Trade Commission.

Last year, Michigan had 15,027 reports of identity theft.  That comes out to about 151 of every 100,000 residents were affected by identity. The most common forms of identity theft in Michigan are government documents or benefits fraud and employment or tax-related fraud.

The remaining top 5 states who have identity theft problems are Florida (#2), California (#3), Maryland (#4), and Nevada (#5).

There is a silver lining to our identity theft problem though.  We have a relatively low monetary loss per case, with a median of only $400 (11th lowest in the nation.)

You can compare other states by using the infographic that 24/7 Wall St. provided below.

The methodology used to determine the rankings can be found here.

Identity theft can be scary, but there are plenty of services that can help you make sure that you are protected.  WalletHub offers an Identity Theft Guide and free credit monitoring to help consumers handle or prevent the damaging effects of cybercrimes.