Pa.’s one of the most vulnerable states to identity theft, fraud

The holiday season is fraught with scams, with officials warning shoppers to keep an extra wary eye out for shady deals and potential fraudsters .

This is especially so in Pennsylvania , a state that, it turns out, is particularly vulnerable to such sheisters.

WalletHub conducted and published a study on Tuesday covering the “States Most Vulnerable to Identity Theft & Fraud.” Pennsylvania ranked 18th overall, placing it amongst the top 20.

Researchers at the site graded each of the 50 — plus Washington D.C. — across three main dimensions: “Identity Theft,” “Fraud” and “Policy.” They then factored in various sub-metrics — “Identity-Theft Complaints per Capita,” “Median Loss Amount Due to Fraud,” and “Availability of Identity-Theft Passport Program” among them — for final results