Arizona was among the worst states for the number of identity theft complaints in 2014, according to a new Federal Trade Commission report.
The Consumer Sentinel Network report, which is an FTC network designed to share information about consumer complaints to law enforcement agencies, put Arizona at No. 9 nationally with 6,460 complaints, which is about 96 complaints per 100,000 people.
About 65 percent of those who filed complaints reported a financial loss, with an average amount reported of $2,581.
Identity theft complaints involved government benefits, credit cards and employment-related data, the report said.
Florida ranked as having the most complaints with 37,059, which is about 186.3 complaints per 100,000 residents.
The Tucson area had 990 complaints and ranked 64th among metropolitan areas in the overall number of identity theft complaints per capita.
For fraud and other related consumer complaints, Arizona ranked 16th in the nation in the number of complaints. Florida, once again, ranked as having the most complaints.
The Sierra Vista-Douglas area ranked first among metropolitan areas in the country for most fraud complaints. Other Arizona areas ranked in the top 49 for fraud complaints were Prescott at No. 10, the Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale area at No. 25, and Tucson with the 46th most complaints.
Arizona’s high rank could be attributed to the large presence of older generations and retirees in the state, said Ryan Foster, a spokesman for the Better Business Bureau of Southern Arizona.
The older, more vulnerable populations are “usually the ones who fall victims to these kinds of scams,” he said.
There also have been reports of scams targeting Spanish speakers and exploiting language barriers for identity theft and fraud, he added.
Another factor may be unemployment, he said. Scammers target people who are seeking work and ask for personal information, including Social Security numbers, in exchange for employment or cash prizes.
Arizonans’ vulnerability to identity theft is “exacerbated by the ongoing problem of data breaches,” the National Consumers League said in a statement, citing research saying nearly one in three data-breach victims also experiences identity fraud.
In the past year, there were 783 computer data breaches around the country, according to the Identity Theft Resource Center. About 43 percent of identified breaches were in the medical and health-care industry.
Deputy Tom Peine, a spokesman for the Pima County Sheriff’s Department, advised using free credit checks throughout the year to detect possible identity thefts.
“If your information has been compromised online, for example, at least you detect that quickly,” he said.
He also said one of the most important and obvious ways to protect your identity is to be mindful when handling documents and mail — paper or electronic — that may contain personal information.
