Scam City USA: The Scammiest Cities in America

The Federal Trade Commission (FCC) reports that in 2023 Americans lost more than $10 billion to online fraud and scams, with more than 2.5 million people across the country falling victim to these crimes. While national trends are staggering, internet crimes, like traditional crimes, also affect different areas of the country disproportionately.

So which cities across the U.S. are the biggest scam targets, and which are the safest? Our team at All About Cookies reviewed FCC fraud reports, scam call data, search trends, and more across more than 75 of the biggest cities in America to find the scammiest cities in America.

Key findings

• Miami, Florida is the scammiest city in America, followed by Las Vegas, Nevada.
• Many of the “scammiest” cities in the country are located in warm weather and retirement hotspots such as Florida, California, and Arizona.
• Florida is home to 4 of the top 10 scammiest cities.
• From 2022-2023, San Diego had the most spam call complaints per capita (309 per 100,000 people), followed by Las Vegas (200 per 100K).
• Reports of identity theft rose the most in Hartford, Connecticut last year, increasing by 49% year-over-year.

How we determined our rankings

To calculate our rankings, we compiled a list of more than 75 of the most populated cities in America, and compared scam- and fraud-related statistics for each of them. Specifically, we looked at:

• Fraud reports (per capita): Higher proportion of the population reporting that they’ve been the victim of fraud indicates places where fraud and scams are a bigger problem.
• Identity theft reports (per capita): Identity theft is one of the most common kinds of fraud in the country, impacting 1 in 5 adults at some point in their life, according to the FBI. Cities where identity theft reports are highest relative to population size indicate a larger ID theft problem.
• Year-over-year change in fraud reports: Raw numbers don’t tell the whole story, as a massive increase in the number of fraud reports from one year to the next can indicate that fraudsters have determined that potential victims in a particular city are better or more desirable targets now than they were previously.
• Year-over-year change in identity theft reports: Similarly, an increase in identity theft crimes can indicate a shift or trend when it comes to the cities that criminals are targeting for this crime.
• Search volume data relating to scams and fraud: If high numbers of people in a given city are looking up search terms relating to things like identifying, reporting, or fixing a fraud or scam incident, it can be a sign that those crimes are particularly pervasive in that city.
• Spam call complaints (per capita): Spam calls are often an attempt at contacting and engaging with a potential scam victim, so cities where these kinds of calls are detected and reported more often may be top targets for scammers.
• Robocalls per person annually: Robocalls are a well-known tool for fraudsters, so cities where these kinds of calls are more common relative to the population can be seen as potential fraud hotbeds.

Using each of the factors above, our research team created a scoring index to determine the scammiest cities in the U.S., assigning a value from 1-100 in each city with higher scores indicating cities where scams and fraud are a bigger issue.

America’s scam capitals

Across the country, we saw two major trends for the cities that showed high levels of fraud: warm climates and aging populations. In the U.S., elder fraud accounts for more than one-third of all scam cases nationally, costing the vulnerable elderly population more than $3 billion every year.

The top 10 includes:

1. Miami, Florida

• Fraud reports per 100K: 1,775
• Spam call complaints per 100K: 161

Miami is the biggest fraud hotbed in the country and has more reports of identity theft per capita (729 per 100,000 people) than any other city in the country. Miami also ranks second when it comes to fraud reports per capita (1,775 per 100K) and has the fifth-most spam call complaints per 100,000 people (161).

2. Las Vegas, Nevada

• Fraud reports per 100K: 1,711
• Spam call complaints per 100K: 200

Sin City is America’s second-biggest scam city. Vegas lands in the top three when it comes to spam calls (200 per 100K), fraud reports (1,711 per 100K), and identity theft reports (488 per 100K) per capita.

3. Orlando, Florida

• Fraud reports per 100K: 1,602
• Spam call complaints per 100K: 167

The second of four different Florida cities in the top 10, the home of Walt Disney World, ranks high in a number of metrics, including spam calls, fraud reports, and identity theft per capita. Notably, Orlando also ranks third in the country when it comes to the number of robocalls received per person in 2023, an astounding 2,020.

4. Tampa, Florida

• Fraud reports per 100K: 1,623
• Spam call complaints per 100K: 138

The 1,623 fraud reports for every 100,000 people in Tampa is the fourth-highest rate in the country, while the 1,591 robocalls received per person in 2023 ranks as the eighth-highest total of any city.

5. Atlanta, Georgia

• Fraud reports per 100K: 1,988
• Spam call complaints per 100K: 137

Atlanta leads the way when it comes to fraud reports per capita, at 1,988 per 100,000 people. That is more than 200 reports per 100K higher than second-place Miami. Atlanta also has the highest number of robocalls received per person, 4,133 (more than 1,600 higher than second place). Relatively low spam complaints and a 29% decrease in identity theft reports last year are big reasons that Atlanta isn’t ranked even higher.

6. San Diego, California

• Fraud reports per 100K: 1,129
• Spam call complaints per 100K: 309

Despite low instances of fraud and identity theft relative to population size, San Diego still ranks as one of the top 10 scammiest cities in the country due to the 309 spam call reports per 100,000 in the city, the highest total of any city (and a number that is more than 100 reports per 100K bigger than anywhere else in the country).

7. Tallahassee, Florida

• Fraud reports per 100K: 1,302
• Spam call complaints per 100K: 96

The state capital of Florida is the final Sunshine State city to rank in the top 10, thanks in large part to a high volume of robocalls (1,588 per person) and an average search volume score of 60/100 across 10 different fraud and scam-related terms, the third highest volume in the country.

8. Tucson, Arizona

• Fraud reports per 100K: 1,140
• Spam call complaints per 100K: 112

One of the cities where citizens are searching online for more information and resources relating to fraud and scams at a higher rate than Tallahassee is Tucson, where the average search volume for those terms is 62.1/100, higher than any other city. Tucson also saw the number of fraud reports per capita increase by 15% last year, the second-biggest increase in the country.

9. Hartford, Connecticut

• Fraud reports per 100K: 918
• Spam call complaints per 100K: 39

Hartford residents received nearly 2,000 robocalls per person last year (1,999.1), the fourth-most of any city. Even more alarmingly, identity theft reports in Connecticut’s capital city increased by 49% compared to the previous year, the highest jump in the country.

10. Dallas, Texas

• Fraud reports per 100K: 1,459
• Spam call complaints per 100K: 57

Fraud reports increased by 14% in Dallas last year, the fourth-largest increase of any city. Additionally, the city ranks in the top 10 for the number of fraud and identity theft reports per capita (1,459 and 439 per 100,000 people, respectively).

America’s safest cities for digital crime

While there are no cities where fraud is nonexistent, there are certainly places where the problem is less pervasive and more manageable.

In that regard, Amarillo, Texas leads the way, with extremely low instances of fraud reports (just 704 per 100,000 people) and a 21% decrease in identity theft reports being major factors in that ranking.

Fort Wayne, Indiana is second, thanks in large part to the biggest year-over-year decrease in fraud reports (-14%) of any city in the country last year. Wichita, Kansas takes the bronze medal thanks to having fraud reports and robocall rates that are among the 10 lowest in the country.

Cities where ID theft is rising fastest

Identity theft is a major subcategory of fraud and one that has become incredibly common in recent years. Unfortunately for people in the following cities, it is also a crime that saw scammers increase their efforts more than anywhere else last year.

Identity theft reports increased by 49% in Hartford, the highest rate of any city. Des Moines saw the second-biggest increase, 40%. Interestingly, two Nebraska cities near Des Moines — Omaha (24%) and Lincoln (21%) — also landed in the top five when it comes to this metric. Similarly, Boston (34%) and Providence (14%) are near Hartford and also land in the top 10.

Full city breakdown

City	Overall Scam Score	Spam Complaints Per 100K	Average Google Trends Volume for Scam-Related Terms	Fraud Reports Per 100K (2023)	YoY Fraud Report Change	ID Theft Reports Per 100K (2023)	YoY ID Theft Change	Robocalls Per Person (2023)
Albuquerque, New Mexico	27.2	71	47.2	1,010	7%	151	-15%	258.1
Amarillo, Texas	18.6	45	51.8	704	0%	135	-21%	762.8
Anchorage, Alaska	34.1	70	60.4	899	-6%	138	13%	175.3
Atlanta, Georgia	62.9	137	48.4	1,988	0%	604	-29%	4133.1
Austin, Texas	40.2	88	45.2	1,235	10%	300	-3%	440.3
Baltimore, Maryland	48.8	76	47.4	1,375	2%	295	-20%	1741.6
Baton Rouge, Louisiana	55.4	77	56.2	1,142	9%	341	-186%	1808.1
Birmingham, Alabama	47.5	91	45.1	1,250	4%	289	-43%	2437.1
Boise, Idaho	32.6	91	48.3	911	9%	149	-6%	758.7
Boston, Massachusetts	46.9	29	42.8	934	4%	363	34%	968.0
Buffalo, New York	25.7	59	41.3	875	4%	154	-22%	1060.5
Charlotte, North Carolina	48.1	108	45.4	1,421	6%	378	-20%	624.6
Chicago, Illinois	41.3	66	43.9	1,231	9%	350	-12%	673.6
Cincinnati, Ohio	49.2	144	42.9	916	6%	226	14%	785.2
Cleveland, Ohio	48.4	50	46.9	1,154	-1%	398	6%	1230.6
Colorado Springs, Colorado	42.8	104	51.6	1,133	0%	217	3%	357.1
Columbus, Ohio	48.2	62	43.1	1,062	4%	384	5%	554.0
Corpus Christi, Texas	24.2	31	53.0	653	8%	165	-24%	502.5
Dallas, Texas	57.9	57	45.3	1,459	14%	439	-4%	1525.3
Denver, Colorado	41.6	97	45.7	1,147	-1%	252	17%	686.8
Des Moines, Iowa	36.1	47	39.9	767	10%	219	40%	362.6
Detroit, Michigan	53.5	29	49.8	1,149	4%	332	6%	1179.7
El Paso, Texas	44.8	35	49.6	1,006	34%	240	3%	159.1
Fort Wayne, Indiana	19.7	62	59.0	802	-14%	144	-48%	338.0
Grand Rapids, Michigan	40.8	103	45.3	754	6%	179	11%	615.1
Greensboro, North Carolina	41.6	64	47.9	1,175	10%	217	-65%	1272.8
Hartford, Connecticut	57.9	39	40.9	918	6%	465	49%	1999.1
Honolulu, Hawaii	26.9	62	55.0	815	6%	123	-10%	411.4
Houston, Texas	46.4	73	43.7	1,295	3%	488	-33%	729.0
Indianapolis, Indiana	33.0	52	44.7	1,056	4%	264	0%	507.8
Jacksonville, Florida	43.0	62	53.2	1,535	2%	303	-14%	350.4
Kansas City, Missouri	22.4	63	43.3	937	3%	187	-22%	203.3
Las Vegas, Nevada	67.9	200	55.0	1,711	5%	488	-3%	557.5
Lexington, Kentucky	39.9	103	48.0	863	4%	151	2%	439.8
Lincoln, Nebraska	38.4	72	49.1	698	7%	140	21%	527.2
Little Rock, Arkansas	51.9	56	51.3	1,091	0%	299	15%	1571.6
Los Angeles, California	41.5	39	48.6	1,101	8%	458	-6%	398.1
Louisville, Kentucky	29.1	134	43.9	936	5%	151	-9%	356.8
Madison, Wisconsin	40.9	74	50.0	898	5%	172	10%	393.0
Memphis, Tennessee	36.5	59	47.3	1,402	-8%	368	-39%	837.6
Miami, Florida	72.0	161	50.3	1,775	10%	729	-19%	1421.2
Milwaukee, Wisconsin	23.0	40	38.6	997	4%	221	-8%	419.1
Minneapolis, Minnesota	41.1	130	40.6	891	3%	164	5%	705.3
Nashville, Tennessee	21.7	72	42.7	1,162	-2%	199	-37%	551.2
New Orleans, Louisiana	43.8	50	44.7	1,236	8%	320	-50%	1308.7
New York, New York	28.6	13	44.9	1,109	5%	300	-21%	194.0
Oakland, California	48.2	74	47.6	1,085	12%	230	6%	423.2
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma	26.2	51	49.3	868	2%	188	-4%	599.5
Omaha, Nebraska	42.9	75	42.6	970	14%	171	24%	337.2
Orlando, Florida	67.4	167	47.9	1,602	3%	446	-35%	2020.3
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	38.7	47	44.7	1,519	-7%	467	-21%	625.2
Phoenix, Arizona	47.8	70	54.9	1,300	13%	309	-3%	532.0
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania	43.4	156	44.4	1,120	4%	223	-37%	1194.8
Portland, Oregon	47.6	99	50.3	1,080	7%	195	13%	334.7
Providence, Rhode Island	31.8	32	48.6	801	-4%	276	14%	517.9
Raleigh, North Carolina	38.4	81	46.3	1,212	2%	272	-21%	886.2
Reno, Nevada	53.0	123	57.5	1,068	8%	191	2%	339.4
Richmond, Virginia	47.6	129	48.0	1,294	1%	301	-28%	1178.0
Riverside, California	40.2	52	48.6	997	6%	281	-9%	1423.3
Sacramento, California	39.3	93	46.5	1,165	9%	251	-11%	645.6
Salt Lake City, Utah	36.1	129	47.4	897	4%	187	-15%	1004.1
San Antonio, Texas	35.3	66	43.0	1,092	9%	272	0%	346.7
San Diego, California	60.2	309	50.4	1,129	9%	263	4%	374.9
San Francisco, California	48.6	103	47.6	1,085	12%	230	6%	181.9
San Jose, California	33.9	97	47.6	973	7%	215	0%	146.4
Seattle, Washington	54.4	161	50.6	1,097	6%	191	7%	630.1
Sioux Falls, South Dakota	29.5	42	41.8	666	8%	120	6%	405.3
Spokane, Washington	32.3	132	45.8	958	6%	159	-3%	515.9
St. Louis, Missouri	47.3	161	42.9	1,192	4%	228	-28%	1602.3
Tallahassee, Florida	58.9	96	60.0	1,302	7%	331	-70%	1588.3
Tampa, Florida	64.8	138	53.0	1,623	8%	351	-9%	1591.1
Toledo, Ohio	41.2	54	41.0	831	5%	243	8%	1002.8
Tucson, Arizona	58.6	112	62.1	1,140	15%	189	4%	308.6
Tulsa, Oklahoma	36.0	63	56.1	888	11%	178	-1%	712.0
Virginia Beach, Virginia	34.6	68	50.0	1,296	0%	257	-24%	798.0
Washington, District of Columbia	40.5	103	48.7	1,362	1%	304	-7%	340.4
Wichita, Kansas	21.4	72	45.8	821	2%	164	-27%	254.9
Winston-Salem, North Carolina	30.6	75	47.9	970	0%	169	-38%	1521.0
Average	50.1	85.6	47.9	1102.3	5%	268.0	-11%	816.3

Tips for staying safe from scammers

• Protect your identity on the internet. Learn the top ways to keep your information safe online to avoid falling victim to identity theft.
• Learn about scam calls. The risks of answering a scam call are varied, but there are common warning signs that consumers can learn to help identify dangerous calls.
• Learn about PII. Your personally identifiable information (PII) can include details such as your name, address, or Social Security number. This is all information that can reveal your identity to online criminals if it’s compromised.

Methodology

All About Cookies collected data on over 75 of America's biggest cities. We found data for seven factors relating to scams and fraud in each city.

Factors were compared using a dynamic formula that assigned each city a score of 0-5 relative to every other city. Those factor scores were then weighted to assign each city a final value out of 100, with higher scores indicating cities where scams and fraud are more prevalent.

For each factor, a weight of 2.75 serves as the baseline, with weights above 2.75 having a larger impact on a city's total score and those below 2.75 having a lesser impact. The weights and sources for the individual metrics used are as follows:

Criteria	Source	Weight
Fraud reports per 100,000 people, 2023	Federal Trade Commission	3.25
Identity theft reports per 100,000 people	Federal Trade Commission	3.25
Spam call complaints per 100,000 people, 2022-2023	Federal Communications Commission	3.0
Change in the number of fraud reports from 2022 to 2023	Federal Trade Commission	2.75
Change in the number of identity theft reports from 2022 to 2023	Federal Trade Commission	2.75
Average search volume for 10 different scam-related terms	Google Trends	2.5
Robocalls per person, 2023	YouMail Robocall Index	2.5