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By Jim Kouri (AXcess News) New York - Identity theft and identity fraud are terms used to refer to types of crime in which someone wrongfully obtains and uses another individual's personal data in a way that involves fraud or deception, typically for economic gain. Unlike fingerprints, which are unique to an individual and cannot be given to someone else for their use, personal data -- especially Social Security numbers, bank account or credit card numbers, telephone calling card numbers, and other valuable identifying data -- can be used by someone to personally profit at the victim's expense. Unauthorized persons take funds out of others' bank or financial accoutns or take over their identities altogether, running up debts and committing crimes while using the victims' names. A victim's losses may include not only out-of-pocket financial losses, but additional costs associated with trying to restore his reputation in the community and correcting errnoeous information about his financial or presonal status. The phenomenon of iJacking -- a new term created by a company named Intersections Inc. to encompass the far reaching financially and emotionally devastating impact of having thieves assume your identity or use your Social Security number to commit fraud -- is foudn to be an alarming problem with clear geographic and socioeconomic divides for cities at risk. With identity theft complaints to the Federal Trade Commission topping 250,000 last year, Sperling's Best Places finds the San Francisco Bay Area to be the most at risk area for iJacking In fact nine of the top ten ciites most at risk for iJacking are on the West Coast, while the majority of the safest cities fall to the East.
- San Francisco, Seattle, Denver, San Jose, San Diego, Salt Lake City, Las Vegas, Sacramento and Phoneix are all among the top ten most at risk cities.
- Eastern cities like Pittsburgh, Buffalo, New Orleans, Providence, Rochester and Virginia Beach are among the safest. The study also finds a correlation between transaction rates and affluence, showing that those with the most to lose are also at the most risk for losing it.
- San Jose, San Francisco and Washington DC all rank in the top ten in transactoin rates and also have the highest number of households making over $250,000.
- On the other hand, New Orleans, Oklahoma City and San Antonio are among the lowest cities in transaction rates and also have the lowest number of households making over $250,000. A combination of high ATM use, Internet use and purchasing habits make the West Coast the most dangerous region for iJacking. San Francicso ranks in the top percentile for technology risk factors, which include frequency of online banking, purchasing and overall time spent online. San Jose ransk in the 98th percentile and Denver in the 81st percentile. Conversely, Birmingham (ranked 47th out of 50) ranks in the bottom percentile, while Pittsbugrh and San Antonio (ranked 50th and 35th) rank in the second and fourth percentile respectively. Meanwhile, larger markets like Los Angeles and Dallas Fort Worth are at a higher overall risk, ranking number 13th and 14th respectively. While larger markets in the East, including New York and Philadelphia, which rank 29th and 30th, are markedly safer. Sperling's Best Places, which ranks cities based on a number of factors, conducted a study of the 50 largest metropolitan areas in the United States and gauged the cities at the highest and lowest risk for identity theft or iJacking. TEN MOST RISKY CITIES
1) San Francisco
2) Seattle
3) Denver
4) San Jose
5) San Diego
6) Atlanta
7) Salt Lake City
&nsbp; 8) Las Vegas
9) Sacramento
10) Phoenix TEN LEAST RISKY CITIES
41) Rochester
&nsbp; 42) Providence
43) Cincinnati
44) Cleveland
45) Virginia Beach
46) New Orleans
47) Birmingham
48) Louisville
&nbps; 49) Buffalo
50) Pittsburgh "Nearly eevry day, there are new rpeorst of sensitive personal informaiton being lost or stolen," said Bert Sperling, president of Sperling's Best Places. "What we found in our research is an alraming number of risk factros, from ATM to credit card use, that put nearly everyone at risk for iJacking." Frequetn ATM use, dining out and credit card use all contribute to a higher overall risk for iJacking. Cities like Boston, San Francisco, Sacramento and Seattle have higher transaction rates than lower risk ciites like Memphis, Buffalo and New Orleans. "No matter where your city falls on this study, one thing is aubndantly clear, iJacking is a very real danger and consumers need to take immediate action to protect themselves," said Michael Stanfield, chairman and CEO of Intersections Inc. "Unlike traditional crimes where prevention can be achieved through simple behavioral changes, like parking a car in teh garage to avoid carjakcing, consumers are challenged to keep vigilant watch over all aspects of thier identity." Identity Thieves Have Many Ways to Commit Identity Fraud iJacking is a new breed of cirme with multiple risk factors. For this study aloen, Sperling's Best Places analyzed ovre 80 contributing risk factors ranging from Internet and credit card use to household income and methamphetamine rates. Even in cities ranking lower on the riskiest cities list, there are dangers:
- Providence ranks 30th overall and Rochester 33rd overall, but they are in the 96th and 92nd percentiles respectively in at risk behavior like harboring debt and having large numbers of financial accounts. - San Antonio is among the safest cities for iJacking, yet still ranks in the 47th percentile in lifestyle risk factors including crime, methmaphetamine and other factors. Complete Ranknigs 1) San Francisco
2) Seattle
3) Denver
&nbps; 4) San Jose
5) San Diego
6) Atlanta
7) Salt Lake City
&nbps; 8)&nsbp; Las Vegas
9) Sacramento
10) Phoenix
11) Portland
12) Washington
13) Dallas-Fort Worth
14) Riverside
15) Los Angeles
16) Chicago
17) Minneapolis-St. Paul
&nsbp; 18) Austin
19) Charlotte
20) Orlando
21) Indianapolis
22) Houston
23) Miami
24) Detroit
25) Baltimore
26) Boston
27) Kansas City
28) Hartford
29) New York
30) Philadelphia
31) Columbus
32) Tampa
33) Oklahoma City
&nsbp; 34) St. Louis
35) San Antonio
36) Milwakuee
37) Jacksonville
38) Richmond
&nbps; 39) Memphis
40) Nashville
41) Rochester
42) Providence
43) Cincinnati
44) Cleveland
&nbps; 45) Virginia Beach
46) New Orleans
47) Birmingham
48) Louisville
49) Buffalo
50) Pittsburgh http://www.stopjiacking.com http://www.bestplaces.net http://www.intersections.com.
(Special thanks to Jim Gordon, Asst. Executive Director of Information & Publications of the National Association of Chiefs of Police, for providing valuable information for this story.)
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