"Statistics on Identity Theft
More than ever before, the information explosion, aided by an era of easy credit, has led to the growth of a crime that feeds on the inability of consumers to control who has access to their sensitive personal information and how it is safeguarded. That crime is identity theft. The information below should be viewed as "what is known at this time" and not as the final word about identity theft crimes. Identity theft remains the #1 concern among consumers. Their fears are not unfounded. The facts about identity theft speak for themselves.
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Statistics on identity theft reported by the Federal Trade Commission indicate that for the 4th year in a row identity theft topped the list of consumer complaints. Identity theft accounted for more than 42 percent of all complaints lodged in the FTC Consumer Sentinel database in 2004, an increase of 40 percent over 2002 statistics.The Number of Victims and Types of Fraud:
According to the Federal Trade Commission's Identity Theft Survey Report, nearly 10 million American consumers discovered that their personal information had been used to open fraudulent bank, credit card, cell phone or utility accounts, or used to commit other crimes.
More than 50 percent of all identity theft victims were the victims of credit card and other types of credit account fraud. New credit account fraud, where an ID thief opens up new accounts in your name, and other frauds were estimated to have victimized 3.23 million people.
Approximately 28 percent of Identity Theft victims whose theft involved the misuse of an existing credit card said that their credit cards had either been lost or stolen.
The Cost of Identity Theft:
Identity Theft costs approximately $53 billion. That means that the total loss to business and individual victims for all types of reported identity theft, both new account and existing account frauds, is almost $53 billion dollars annually. More specifically, business victims experienced a total loss of $47.5 billion or an average of $4,800 per business victim per year. Individual victims account for a total loss of $5 billion and $500 per victim annually.
Americans spent 300 million hours resolving issues related to identity theft. Between individual and business identity theft victims--an average of 30 - 60 hours per victim was spent on handling various matters related to identity theft including new accounts, existing account and other frauds.
The Perpetrators of Identity Theft:
Victims generally know the thieves who steal their precious personal information. In more than 25 percent of reported identity theft cases, the victims know or are related to the identity thief. Think twice about the people with whom you share personal information.
Most identity theft cases start in the workplace. Studies show as much as 70 percent of all identity theft cases are an inside job--perpetrated by a co-worker or by an employee of a business that you patronize. Perhaps the greatest surprise is that a large number of the identities were stolen not by an employee -- but by the business owner.
References: For further data and statistical information read the Federal Trade Commissions 2003 Identity Theft Survey Report.
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