Nevada ranked as having highest rate of financial fraud per capita

The state was 18th overall for fraud reports, and UNLV staff believe both the state’s regulations and density may have contributed.

Tipalti has recently completed an analysis of FBI internet crime data from 2022, concluding that Nevada has the highest rate of financial fraud per capita of any US state.

Tipalti, a financial technology firm headquartered in California, used census data to produce its report, showing that Nevada had 286 victims of financial fraud per 100,000 people.

When looking at total incidents of financial fraud, Nevada ranks 18th in the nation and 19th for the size of financial losses. In Nevada, there was a total of 9,090 victims noted in the FBI’s 2022 data and an estimated overall loss of $127.3m.

University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) Accounting Department Chair, Jason Smith, told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that Nevada residents may not have ‘high levels of financial literacy’ and that the state’s incorporation laws and regulations have encouraged business owners, including Elon Musk, to choose the silver state, therefore possibly increasing the financial fraud results.

Gregory Moody, Director of Cybersecurity at UNLV also commented that the ‘concentration’ of the hospitality and gaming industries could then leave the state heavily impacted after certain types of fraud occur. This was seen after the cyber attacks at both MGM and Caesars properties took weeks to resolve, and have also led to multiple lawsuits.

It is worth noting, however, that these incidents took place later (2023) and are not included within Tipalti’s 2022 data.

MGM saw its Las Vegas segment decline annually by 8% in Q3 and also estimated it lost around $100m due to the cybersecurity incident. Caesars paid the hacking group and posted a Q3 report showing that, while regional revenue was above Las Vegas’ total, its own Las Vegas segment increased by 4% year-on-year.

Stephanie Feeley

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