Fraud cost Arizona residents over $69,500,000 last year. That’s a 138.0%, increase from 2019, the 6th highest increase in the nation.
QuoteWizard, a LendingTree company, and one of the nation’s leading online insurance marketplaces, released a new report on the skyrocketing cost of fraud in America.
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In addition to increases in Arizona fraud, our team of insurance analysts found that fraud increased by over 97% in the last year, costing Americans more than $2.3 billion.
“The increase in fraud is directly tied to the ongoing pandemic. Criminals took advantage of relief efforts and we saw job-related scams, credit fraud and identity theft increase by more than 100%,” said Nick VinZant, Sr. Research Analyst and Insurance Expert with QuoteWizard.
The increase in fraud hit some states particularly hard. Nebraska saw a 193% increase in fraud losses, while California lost over $400 million.
Top 10 states for fraud
Key Findings:
• Fraud cost Americans $2.3 billion in 2020, a 97% increase over 2019.
• Fraud reports increased by 30.1% in the last year.
• Nebraska, South Dakota and Illinois had the largest increases in fraud-related losses.
• Mississippi, Arkansas and Alaska had the largest increases in fraud reports.
• Identity Theft and Credit Bureau scams are the fastest rising categories of fraud
While some states experienced sharp increases in the overall dollar amount lost to fraud, others saw rapid increases in the number of fraud reports. We found 20 states where instances of fraud increased by 20% or more. Six states saw decreases in fraud reports but also had some of the biggest increases in fraud-related losses.
Fraud is a broad type of crime, but scams usually fall into one of the categories listed in the table below. Job opportunity, identity theft and credit bureau scams are the fastest-growing types of fraud. But we found an increase in almost every category.
