DC Has Shockingly High Rate of Identity Theft: Report

WASHINGTON, DC — As you prepare to whip out the credit card for the holiday shopping season, be warned: a new report claims that the District is far and away the region most prone to identity theft and fraud, easily beating out all 50 U.S. states.

The report, from WalletHub, compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia in three dimensions: identity theft, fraud and policy. The identity theft category is based on criteria like identity theft claims per capita and average loss amount; the fraud category is based on criteria like fraud complaints and average loss amount; and the policy category is based on criteria like security freeze laws and an identity theft "passport program." The data comes from the Federal Trade Commission, Internet Crime Complaint Center and National Conference of State Legislatures.

The District of Columbia ranked first in every single category, and achieved an overall score of 98.61. Considering that score is out of 100, and the next highest scoring state on the list was California at 82.25, that's pretty terrifying if you live in the District.

There are multiple ways you can protect yourself from identity theft and fraud. One is to use strong passwords both for financial accounts and email. You should also sign up for credit monitoring, and sign up for account alerts if something happens in your account. And finally, exercise some common sense by avoiding emails from people you don't know, and not downloading from unknown sources.

You can read the full report here.

Image via Flickr user Don Hankins