TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — Identity theft in Florida has more than doubled its level from before the COVID-19 pandemic, according to data compiled by QuoteWizard. In 2019, there were over 11,000 reported cases of identity theft.
QuoteWizard reported there were more than 31,000 year-to-date in 2022. It’s a 175% increase. The only state with more reported cases so far in 2022 was California, with 33,548. Texas was close behind Florida, with 30,724 reported cases of identity theft, according to QuoteWizard.
“While there’s been a dramatic rise in every category of identity theft fraud since 2019, much of the increase is directly tied to government documents or benefits fraud during the pandemic,” QuoteWizard reported.
The company compiled data for analysis from the Federal Trade Commission.
In Florida, the FTC found there were 145 reported cases of identity theft per 100,000 residents, year-to-date. Of the reported cases, the majority were credit card fraud, followed by “other identity theft” and loan or lease fraud.”
Nationally, the number grows from 31,000 cases to 313,331, among all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. The FTC data is current as of March 31, 2022.
Just like Florida, the biggest proportional type of case for identity theft across the United States was credit card fraud. Of the more than 313,000 cases reported, 118,191 were credit card fraud. About 93,500 were other identity thefts.
Zooming in on metro areas, the FTC reported the North Port-Sarasota-Bradenton metropolitan area had the highest density of cases per 100,000 residents, at 462. The next highest was Miami, with 333 reports per 100,000 and a total of 20,507 reports as of March 31.
In the Tampa metro, there were 296 reports per 100,000 people and 9,449 total reported identity theft and fraud reports as of the end of March. The most common fraud type in the country, when focused on metro areas, was imposter scam, according to information from the FTC.