It doesnt seem all that odd that a person living in a small town in middle America is much less likely to become a victim of identity theft than one living in a large city. But some cities are worse than others when it comes to the trendiest white collar crime around.

When you see the following list of cities, ranked from one to ten for the number of phishing and identity theft crimes that go on in them, it will make you wonder.

1. Seattle
2. Boston
3. Washington, D.C.
4. San Francisco
5. Raleigh, N.C.
6. Atlanta
7. Minneapolis
8. Denver
9. Austin, Texas

As you look at the list, it is difficult not to wonder what they all have in common. Some are college towns, some arent. Some are even high-tech manufacturing centers where you figure people would know all about ID theft. Most of the reasons stem from a high concentration of people with unsecure computers as well as behavior that just invites the theft. Any Windows operating system earlier than XP is very vulnerable just as older browsers are. Update your computer and its software and you are already several steps in front of ID theft. Also, surfing porn and gaming website a lot will open you up to ID theft. The sites just arent as secure and downloading a file from them can place spyware on your computer that will gather information. And that freebie first run movie you watched on a pirate site could well end up the culprit that cost you a weeks worth of financial worry.

Another great precaution that many people dont even think about is securing your wifi.
If you dont have it password protected anyone can sit out on your road and use it. If they are criminals and computer savvy, they can take information right off the computer thats logged on.

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