In Which States Is Credit Card Fraud Most Prevalent

Every merchant that is in business is at risk for fraud, whether it is passing counterfeit money, bad checks or what has become the most prevalent form of fraud, credit card fraud. Everyone has a vested interest in reducing credit card fraud, except for the fraudsters of course, but is there any way to determine where the most fraud occurs? Reward Expert delved into that, and the results may be surprising. 

Reward Expert analyzed data from 2015 and 2016. They found that there was no correlation between a state’s average income but there was a correlation between fraud (as well as identity theft) and a person’s credit score. More fraud took place in states where the average credit score was lower. The safest states are states with high incomes and average credit scores as well as states with average incomes and average credit scores.

The States Safest For Fraud

The safest state when it comes to credit card fraud is Iowa. South Dakota, Wyoming, North Dakota, Maine and Arkansas round out the bottom six. These states have a few things in common. For one they do not have large populations or even a major city. Yes, Des Moines is a big city but its hardly a huge city (sorry Des Moines but your the 101st largest city in the country). Wyoming is the least populous state in the Union and all of these states are in the bottom ten except for Iowa, which is the 31st most populous state. 

Those state’s per capita income are spread out stretching from Arkansas at 48th to North Dakota at 8th.

The States Most Dangerous

In what states is credit card fraud most rampant? Starting at number 5 is Texas followed by Florida, New Mexico, California and Nevada. All of these states have at least one major city and California, Texas and Florida are the three most populous states in the Union. Nevada comes in at 32 and New Mexico at 36, so no complete correlation to population. Of course Nevada and Las Vegas is a magnet for crime. For the other 7 of the top 10 largest states by population only Michigan (#6) and Illinois (#9) are in the top ten. So population really does not seem to be a trend but with more people there is more opportunity.

For the states in the bottom ten of this list none are in the top ten when it comes to per capita GDP. The highest is California at #16 and Illinois at #17. These states spread out for the rest of the list reaching down to #47 with New Mexico. Per capita income seems to have little to no bearing on the risk of fraud. The top state by per capita income is Connecticut, which came in at #23 in Reward Expert’s findings.

Credit Card Fraud Does Not Discriminate

Credit card fraud can happen anywhere. While it might be rare in South Dakota (only 12 reported instances of it during this timeframe) it can happen. You could be a victim of it or your business could be a victim of it. Thieves can obtain this information in many ways but the most common is by stealing the information directly from a merchant or institution. Do you know what can make that less likely? Maintaining PCI compliance can. By closing all of the loopholes and having security measures in place you can safeguard both your business and your customer’s information. You’ll also be helping to take a bite out of credit card fraud as well. 

And just in case you are wondering, since JLE Business Consultants is located in Pennsylvania and many of our readers are from the Keystone State, PA came in at #24. It’s nice to be average at least in this case but it would be better to be farther down on this list. Either way, by maintaining PCI compliance you can help make that possible here in Pennsylvania or in whichever state you live in.