Arizona has some of the most fraud cases in the US, study finds

PHOENIX – A new study from Forbes Advisor found that Arizona is the sixth most scammed state in the United States.

Arizona lost a total of $33.5 million so far this year, ranking at No. 6 for states with the most scams, Forbes Advisor said in the study.

In 2022, Americans lost $8.8 billion to fraud, according to the Federal Trade Commission. That’s a 30% increase from 2021.

Financial trickery is strong in 2023’s first quarter – especially in the Copper State.

How did Forbes measure fraud in Arizona?

To figure out which states were hit with scams the hardest, researchers analyzed FTC data. They then scored states on these four factors:

– Total loss from fraud in dollars
– Fraud reports per 100,000 residents
– Total number of fraud reports
– Median loss from fraud in dollars

Arizona ranked No. 14 in the nation in terms of total fraud reports filed, Forbes said. Overall, Arizonans reported fraud 9,890 times.

It also ranked No. 15 in the “fraud per capita” category. There were around 260 reported incidents per 100,000 residents, according to Forbes’ analysis.

Arizona was also high on the list of median loss. People lost $650 per fraud incident, Forbes said.

Forbes pinned Georgia as the nation’s most-scammed state. On the other hand, South Dakota is least affected by financial fraud.