Report: R.I. 17th most vulnerable state when it comes to ID theft, fraud

WALLETHUB said Rhode Island ranked 17th most vulnerable to identity theft and fraud; the District of Columbia is the most vulnerable, while South Dakota is the least, the report said. / COURTESY WALLETHUB
WALLETHUB said Rhode Island ranked 17th most vulnerable to identity theft and fraud; the District of Columbia is the most vulnerable, while South Dakota is the least, the report said. / COURTESY WALLETHUB

PROVIDENCE – Rhode Island ranks 17th in the U.S. on a list from WalletHub featuring the places most likely to be affected by identity theft and fraud.
The financial services website said Wednesday that the District of Columbia ranks the highest for identity theft and fraud, followed by California, Florida, Massachusetts and Nevada. Connecticut was 10th highest on the list, and New Hampshire was 21st.
South Dakota is the least likely place for identity theft and fraud, preceded by Maine. Vermont also fared well in the survey, ranking 40th, or 12th least likely for identity theft and fraud.
WalletHub said it looked at data including identity theft complaints per capita, average loss amount due to fraud and online identity theft, and fraud and other complaints per capita, to come up with its findings. Material from the Federal Trade Commission, Internet Crime Complaint Center and National Conference of State Legislatures was used, WalletHub said.
WalletHub said it conducted the study as December is National Identity Theft Prevention and Awareness Month. It also highlighted the Identity Theft Resource Center’s most recent Data Breach Report, which said 901 breaches with access to more than 34 million records have taken place so far in 2016, with more likely to be reported by the year’s end.

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