Florida is the No. 1 state for fraud and the No. 4 for identity theft

Florida was the top state for formal reports of fraud to the federal government in 2018, according to an analysis by Security.org, which researches issues related to local, national and international security.

According to its review of Federal Trade Commission data, Security.org found that people or groups posing as phony debt collectors made up the biggest share of fraud reports at 29 percent (or 71,000 reports), followed by identity theft at 15 percent (38,000 reports).

Floridians made about 205,400 fraud reports last year, amounting to an average loss of $400.

Georgia came in second for overall fraud reports, followed by Nevada (No. 3) and Delaware (No. 4).

Contact Malena Carollo at mcarollo@tampabay.com or (727) 892-2249. Follow @malenacarollo.