ARIZ., CALIF. RANK HIGH IN ID THEFT

The Consumer Sentinel database, maintained by the Federal Trade Commission contains more than 1 million consumer fraud and identity theft complaints that have been filed with federal, state and local law enforcement agencies and private organizations.

In 2005, the most recent year for which data is available, the FTC received 255,565 identity theft complaints, up from 215,177 in 2003. In 2005, the Commission received 431,118 fraud complaints, up from 327,479 in 2003 and 406,193 in 2004.

According to the Commission, when identity theft occurs, the information is most often used for credit card fraud, with 26 percent of thefts misused in that area. Eighteen percent of stolen identification information is misused for phone or utilities fraud. Seventeen percent is stolen information used for bank fraud. And, 12 percent of information is misused for employment-related fraud.

The FTC noted that of the 50 states, California had the highest number of victims of identity theft including fraud involving checking and savings accounts, and electronic fund transfer, in 2005, with 45,175 victims. The state ranked third in number of victims per capita. Arizona ranked first in highest number (156.9) of victims per 100,000 people, and 9,320 victims in 2005.