When most people think of theft in the U.S, they think of physical theft. This can include pick-pocketing, shoplifting, and simply pocketing a friends possession. In reality, the most popular types of theft include identity theft and car theft.
In fact, in the Unites States, identity theft is one of the most feared types of theft. It is one of the few types of theft that can steal from you again and again, until you put a personal stop to it. When an identity is stolen, it is not only the identity theft victim that is hurt, but the company the thief buys from, as well as the local community that the store sells in.
The companies that sell to an identity thief have to, eventually, take those losses on the chin. The most common threats associated with identity theft is: hurt credit, mortgage, investment, and credit card fraud, all which you may be liable for.
The damages to large companies can be worse than the individual victim. This is only because the main stream company will eventually be hit time and time again. These thefts must eventually be let go and written off as a loss. After a few hits, the costs can add up to hundreds of thousands of dollars, if not more.
The state with the most theft of this nature is Florida. Florida has reported as many as 122 identity theft victims for every 100,000 people. That may not sound like a lot, but there are over 18.5 million people living in Florida. With a rate of 122 for every 100,000, that means the cases of identity fraud victims number in the tens of thousands for a single year, 22,570, to be exact.
The states with the most car theft are California and Texas. That was determined by looking at the cities and states with the most car theft, from http://www.auto-theft.info.com In the top ten cities for car theft, California takes the number 1,3,4, and 5 spots. Texas comes in a close second to California's 242,693… with a mere 95,429 car thefts reported in the 2007 census. The number two worst city for auto thefts is Las Vegas, Nevada, of course. Where there's greed, theft will follow.
Most people would think it's common sense that every state has a slightly rising car theft rate, this just isn't true. The western states were the only region that showed a raise in car thefts for the last several years. For example, this number went up a total of 3.2% in a single year, in 2004 compared to 2003. Not only were the western states the only one with an increase, it was the only region of the U.S. that didn't show a decrease.
The fact that the Western states are the only losers, shows that those states need to focus on making cars safer to own. Another method to lower car theft is by creating stricter punishments for car theft. This combination of prevention and punishment may be all the these western states need to turn around their high reports of theft. In terns of education, most consider taking a standard 10 hour theft class to gain some insight into learning how to better manage and control these negative habits.
