New York Leads In Identity Fraud

The dubious honor of being the state with the highest rate of identity fraud goes to New York, and New York City tops other US metropolitan areas.

Security firm ID Analytics has been assessing where in the US identity fraud takes place. They claim their research is the first to look at actual and attempted fraud rather than just reports from consumer victims.

It’s an interesting approach to the issue of identity fraud. Police have long thought of certain neighborhoods as being more crime-ridden than others; ID Analytics looks at fraud similarly, but on a national level.

A statement from the company on the research suggested it can benefit law enforcement, based on this analysis:

“It’s significant that these are the first publicly-available, statistically valid research findings based on actual data about frauds. Previous research from other sources has had to rely on consumer victim reports, which are, by their nature, incomplete,” said Stephen Coggeshall, ID Analytics’ chief technology officer and the author of the research.

“What’s most meaningful about these findings is that they can help identify specific areas where identity criminals may be operating in an organized manner. We’ve actually analyzed the data down to the 5-digit zip code level which gives precise visibility into concentrations of identity fraud, which may indicate fraud rings or some other criminal activity.”

By looking at three-digit zip codes, ID Analytics claimed the top ten worst metropolitan areas for identity fraud were led by the Big Apple. Here’s their list: