Identity theft is on the rise in the United States. According to the Federal Trade Commission’s Consumer Sentinel Network report, the number of reported cases more than doubled from about 650,500 in 2019 to 1.39 million in 2020. Identity theft cases continued to grow nationwide in 2021 when a total of 1.43 million cases were reported to the FTC.

Identity theft is a crime that involves theft of an individual’s personal information and credentials – such as their Social Security number or bank information – often for the purposes of financial fraud. One possible explanation for the surge in 2020 is the pandemic and the legislation that included more than $5 trillion in various government benefits to help financially strapped Americans. This provided a larger scale opportunity for scammers and identity thieves.

In Indiana, there were 11,866 cases of identity theft logged by the FTC in 2021, or 176 for every 100,000 people – the 16th lowest population-adjusted case rate among states.

All told, fraud and scams – including those committed through identity theft – resulted in $46.9 million in losses in the state in 2021. The typical fraud case in Indiana resulted in the loss of about $400 last year.

All data used in this story is from the FTC’s 2021 Consumer Sentinel Network Data Book.

 

Rank	State	Identify theft reports per 100,000 people, 2021	Total identify theft cases, 2021	Total losses from fraud, 2021 ($M)	Typical loss from fraud case, 2021 ($)
1	Rhode Island	2,857	30,270	11.6	447
2	Kansas	1,355	39,461	19.9	429
3	Illinois	924	117,056	129.0	450
4	Louisiana	732	34,043	30.0	422
5	Georgia	618	65,666	113.0	500
6	Nevada	584	17,985	69.6	616
7	Colorado	583	33,572	88.0	479
8	New York	563	109,466	280.9	500
9	Delaware	560	5,449	14.1	500
10	Florida	515	110,675	331.3	532
11	Texas	504	146,095	369.4	500
12	Maryland	493	29,778	94.0	518
13	Ohio	431	50,421	86.3	375
14	Pennsylvania	425	54,460	120.9	400
15	Alabama	402	19,691	44.7	423
16	Arizona	386	28,108	116.0	515
17	New Jersey	359	31,857	122.2	508
18	South Carolina	343	17,642	46.4	400
19	California	337	133,119	820.9	600
20	Mississippi	333	9,906	23.4	400
21	Tennessee	297	20,254	62.6	400
22	North Carolina	289	30,318	93.0	446
23	Massachusetts	240	16,566	91.3	500
24	Kentucky	233	10,416	30.6	350
25	Virginia	225	19,214	112.9	500
26	New Mexico	220	4,611	23.2	500
27	Missouri	218	13,372	52.3	361
28	Hawaii	211	2,993	22.5	620
29	Arkansas	211	6,358	16.7	450
30	Michigan	206	20,556	83.3	400
31	Wisconsin	193	11,253	48.7	390
32	Oregon	190	8,016	65.4	500
33	Utah	189	6,060	37.3	500
34	Connecticut	187	6,666	40.9	460
35	Indiana	176	11,866	46.9	400
36	Oklahoma	173	6,850	26.9	410
37	Washington	170	12,917	135.7	500
38	Minnesota	168	9,457	60.3	482
39	Maine	167	2,239	9.7	400
40	New Hampshire	162	2,205	13.7	450
41	West Virginia	159	2,845	10.2	350
42	Idaho	152	2,719	16.9	396
43	Vermont	132	825	10.0	337
44	North Dakota	131	999	8.9	440
45	Nebraska	125	2,409	14.3	450
46	Alaska	122	896	13.1	600
47	Iowa	119	3,758	21.2	379
48	Wyoming	107	620	7.8	500
49	Montana	106	1,130	9.6	436
50	South Dakota	76	673	6.8	489