DENVER (KDVR) — Identity theft has ballooned in the last three years, and Colorado has seen it grow more than the national average.
Insurance brokerage QuoteWizard crunched Federal Trade Commission identity thefts from the first quarter of 2019 to the final quarter of 2022. Nationally, there were nearly 400,000 more identity theft filings at the end of 2022 than at the beginning of 2019, a 63% increase overall. These crimes include credit card fraud, loan or lease fraud, phone or utility fraud, bank fraud, employment or tax fraud and government documentation or tax fraud.
Colorado’s identity thefts were up 70%, the 22nd highest in the country.
Identity theft more than doubled in 10 states including West Virginia with a 150% increase, Kansas with a 149% increase and Louisiana with a 135% increase.
Certain types of fraud grew more rampant than others, particularly in areas that would have been heavily impacted by the COVID pandemic. Among the subtypes of identity fraud, only one — phone/utility fraud — shrank from 2019 to 2022.
Three categories more than doubled. Bank fraud increased by 165%, government documentation or benefits fraud rose by 149% and employment or tax-related fraud rose by 127%.
The other subtypes didn’t increase nearly as much. Credit card fraud rose by 62%, loan or lease fraud by 47% and other identity theft by 51%.