Residents of Montana and Arkansas experience less identity theft — or other types of fraud — than the rest of the country.
Montana residents were least vulnerable to identity theft and other types of fraud — recording the second-fewest identity theft complaints per capita in 2021, with just 106 complaints per 100,000 residents, according to the report's analysis of Federal Trade Commission data.
By comparison, Rhode Island recorded the most identity theft complaints per capita, with 2,857 reports per 100,000 residents in 2021, according to FTC data.
Here are the seven least vulnerable states for identity theft and fraud, based on NerdWallet's rankings:Montana Arkansas Indiana Maine Wyoming Oklahoma WashingtonCases of fraud, including identity theft, have risen in recent years, spurred partially by the Covid-19 pandemic and an uptick in data breaches flooding the black market with stolen personal information.
Earlier this year, the FTC reported that consumers filed more than 5.7 million fraud reports in 2021, roughly a quarter of which were identity theft complaints.