Identity Theft Crimes: Where Ohio Ranks

Residents in Ohio fall victim to identity theft less often than the rest of America. There were 371,061 reported cases of identity theft last year, including 9,121 in Ohio, the online financial news site 24/7 Wall St. reported on Friday.

Overall, identity theft seems to be falling in the country. There were nearly 400,000 cases in 2016 and more than 490,000 known incidents in 2015, the report said.

What’s particularly troubling is that the likelihood of becoming a victim of identity theft seems to depend heavily where you live, the site said. South Dakota had the lowest rate of identity theft with just 46 reported cases for every 100,000 residents. But other states, such as neighboring Michigan and sunny Florida, saw identity theft rates that were more than three times as high.

Habitual procrastinators who wait to file their taxes are particularly at risk in all states, according to the new report.

In Ohio, the rate of identity theft complaints was 78 per 100,000 people.

Ohio identity theft breakdown:

• Identity theft complaints: 78 per 100,000 (total: 9,121)
• Median loss for all types of fraud: $400 (11th lowest)
• Most common form of ID theft: Credit card fraud (34 percent of total)
• Second most common form of ID theft: Employment or tax-related fraud (21 percent of total)

Identity theft typically means a third party used someone’s personal identifying information — such as social security number or credit card number — to commit fraud or theft.

Credit card fraud was far and away the most common form of identity theft. This means an individual’s credit card was either used to buy stuff without the victim’s permission or to open new cards in the victim’s name.

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