FOR YOUR INFORMATION:

From: ABC 15 (Phoenix)

“PHOENIX – A new report from the federal government puts Arizona near the top of a rather undistinguished list, states with the highest rates of fraud and identity theft.

Both fraud and identity theft are growing at an alarming rate across the United States.

According to the latest rankings from the Federal Trade Commission, Arizona is now ranked 9th overall when it comes to identity theft. We’re 16th when it comes to fraud schemes.

But when it comes to city rankings across the U.S., the Sierra Vista-Douglas area in southeast Arizona is number one for fraud, making it tops in the country per capita.

Prescott comes in 10th and the Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale area ranks 25th.

So, the ABC15 Investigators did a breakout of the types of fraud happening in Arizona.

They found imposter scams are the most prevalent, followed by bogus debt collection and phony bank and lender schemes. Telephone and auto-related fraud round out the top 5 on the list.

When it comes to identity theft, stolen information lifted from government documents and benefits rank first and second on the list, followed by stolen credit card information. Phone and utility schemes come in fourth, while bogus banking scams come in fifth.

Florida tops the national list for both identity thefts and fraud schemes. South Dakota and North Dakota saw the fewest complaints in both categories.”

Anthony J. “Tony” Palermo
Community Relations Specialist
Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office
255 E. Gurley Street
Prescott, AZ 86301
928.777.7223
anthony.palermo@yavapai.us