Study: FTC Data Reveals South Dakota has Lowest Fraud Rate: 42% Below National Average

Study: FTC Data Reveals South Dakota has Lowest Fraud Rate: 42% Below National Average

• Data from the Federal Trade Commission has revealed the states with the highest and lowest numbers of fraud cases reported per 100,000 people between April 2023 and March 2024.
• South Dakota was named least at risk with a rate 42% below the national average at 572 cases per 100,000 residents.
• The study also revealed that Georgia had the largest number of reports filed per 100,000 residents at 1,605.

A new study has announced the areas hit the hardest by fraud in the period between Q2 2023 and Q1 2024. While South Dakota had 572 reports per 100,000 residents, experts warn to remain aware of anything that can scam you.

The study, conducted by injury lawyers Bader Scott, examined the number of fraud cases reported in each state according to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) between April 2023 and March 2024. The data was then scaled against each state’s population to ensure fair comparisons among states and investigate the areas with the highest and lowest volume per 100,000 residents.

South Dakota was revealed as the state with the lowest number of fraud reports in the period assessed. The rate of fraud reports per 100,000 residents sits as just 572, a rate 42% below average, with more than 5,200 total instances. In the first quarter of the year, there were only 790 fraud reports, though this totaled $6.4 million in total losses.

Following them is their neighbor North Dakota, which ranks as second least likely to have experienced fraud in the study. The rate for the state sat at 607 cases per 100,000 residents with a total figure of over 4,700 cases in the time assessed. However, the figures from the first quarter of the year sit at a loss of $3.7 million.

Iowa ranks third with the next lowest rate of reports which sits at 629 per 100,000 residents. For the data so far this year, there have been over 1,000 imposter scams reported with other common types including data security and cyber threats alongside business and job opportunities. Overall, there were over 20,100 reports made to the FTC.

The state with the fourth lowest rates was Idaho, which saw 14,600 reports in the period assessed, resulting in a rate of 744 incidents per 100,000 people. The FTC’s data reported a loss of $9.7 million due to fraud in the first quarter of this year, which is a small sum in comparison to those with much higher rates. So far, Idaho has seen just 810 imposter scams, between January and March this year, with all fraud reports totaling just over 2,100 overall.

Unlike its other Southern neighbors, Kentucky ranks fifth lowest. The rate here sits at 750 reports per 100,000 residents. In the period assessed, Kentucky saw just under 34,000 incidents reported to the FTC, but when scaled against the population of the state this figure sits relatively low. Imposter scams here have so far totaled just under 1,600 cases in the first few months of this year, with online shopping scams named the second most reported type of fraud.

Top 10 states with the lowest rates of fraud, ranked

On the opposite end of the study, the data revealed that Georgia was the state suffering from the highest rates of fraud. In the assessed period, there were over 177,000 reports filed, resulting in a rate of 1,605 cases per 100,000 residents – a 62% rise above the national average (988 per 100,000).

Georgia has frequently ranked highly in the past for fraud incidents, being named as the state with the highest rate of consumer fraud in 2022. At the time, this rate was just 1,550 per 100,000. In the first quarter of 2024, the FTC reported over 4,300 reports of imposter scams with other top scams relating to online shopping, internet service fraud and business and job opportunities.

Second worst off is Georgia’s neighbor Florida, which saw a rate of 1,589 cases per 100,000 people. Florida’s residents reported over 359,300 incidents in this period and have consistently ranked in the top four places worst hit over the last five years. As of the first three months of this year, Florida residents have already lost $171.1 million to fraudsters.

The FTC’s report on 2024 data so far names imposter scams as the most common scam type here, with online shopping and negative reviews coming in second. In the first quarter of 2024, the FTC has reported over 32,000 incidents of all types of scams, a worrying figure.

Nevada ranks in third place, with a rate of 1,532 reports per 100,000 residents. In the period measured, there were over 48,900 cases. At the end of the first quarter, the FTC reported over 1,600 imposter crime complaints.

As of the first quarter this year, there have been over 4,600 fraud reports with a total of $35.9 million lost so far. Other common ways to be targeted include investment scams, cyber threats and telephone and mobile texts or calls.

In fourth place, with a rate of 1,486 reports per 100,000 residents, is Delaware. For such a small population, this figure is a concerning 50% above the average. According to the FTC’s report on the first quarter of the year, residents here have already lost $6.3 million to fraud. Over the time frame analyzed, there were over 15,300 cases of fraud reported.

As with most states, the most common type of scam is imposter fraud. As for other kinds, the FTC has reported nearly 50 scams relating to travel, vacation and timeshare plans that occurred in the first quarter of this year, highlighting this as the eighth most common scam in-state.

Ranking fifth is Maryland. Here, there are approximately 1,428 reports per 100,000 residents – 44% above the national average. Within the assessed period, there were over 88,200 instances reported.

Within the top ten types, mortgage foreclosure relief and debt management fraud rank high in Maryland. This year, this kind has already been reported 149 times according to the latest data from the FTC. Imposter scams have been reported over 3,400 times so far, and online shopping fraud is the second most common.

Top 10 states with the highest rates of fraud, ranked

“The FTC reported a total of 2.6 million fraud reports in 2023, with an estimated $10 billion lost – an extra $1 billion in comparison to 2022. These figures are worrying, especially given that fraudsters have easy access to people now as they are targeting social media users meaning many more people are subject to their scams.”