Study: ID Thieves Prefer NYC and LA

If you live in New York, California, or Nevada, you have the biggest chance of being an identity theft victim. However if you're a Wyoming, Vermont, or Montana resident, the opposite is the case.

A study released Wednesday by security firm ID Analytics put those that live close to New York City or Los Angeles at the highest risk. Living in the West also seemed to increase one's chances: Arizona, Oregon, and Washington all ranked in the top ten.

The reason for the heightened occurrences of fraud in bigger cities is quite simple: the sheer amount of people living there makes it much harder to identify and track.

Living in a highly populated state did not necessarily mean one would be at a higher risk. Two states with large populations, Pennsylvania and Ohio, ranked far down on the list at 36th and 46th respectively.

When looking at the rates of ID theft by zipcode and metropolitan area, other areas come into play. The worst is New York, followed by Detroit, Los Angeles, Little Rock, Ark., and Greenville, MS.

ID Analytics said it was important to know where identity thieves were operating. "What's most meaningful about these findings is that they can help identify specific areas where identity criminals may be operating in an organized manner," CTO Stephen Coggeshall said.

Additionally, identity theft seemed to occur the most often in either lower or high-income ranges, while occurring less to middle-income individuals. This matches with another study that showed those who made more than $150,000 per year were at the highest risk.

Data showed that 10 to 15 percent of all ID fraud was committed through the use of actual identities, while 85 to 90 percent came from a mix of actual and fabricated identity data.