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The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has revealed some chilling Identity Theft Statistics available.
  • Identity Theft Statistics from FTC reveal that identity theft is one of the most popular forms of consumer fraud, in part because it is the most profitable. Identity thieves have estimated to have stolen nearly $100 million from financial institutions last year, or an average of $6,767 per victim

  • A newly installed FTC hotline (877-IDTHEFT) for reporting identity theft crimes is already logging more than 2,000 calls a week and many people don't yet know of its existence.

  • FTC has confirmed that Identity theft is their number source of complaints accounting for more than 42% of all their complaints.

  • Identity Theft Statistics reveal that a identity thief victimizes a new victim every 79 seconds by opening a account in their name and going on a buying spree.

  • More than 50% of credit reports checked contained errors. A major source of these errors was Identity theft when someone had opened a new account or obtained a credit card in the victim's name.

  • Identity Theft Statistics reveal that it costs about $1000 on an average for victims to cope with the damage from identity theft.

  • Identity Theft Statistics show that an estimated 750,000 people may be victimized by identity theft every year.

  • Anti-virus firms and internet security firms have warned of increased activity of illegal software - also called Spyware - that spy on users surfing habits on the internet and steal passwords and credit card number. A major anti-virus company reported that it had detected one virus per every 370 emails.

  • Another most chilling Identity Theft Statistics is the fact that victims learned about identity theft long after it had occurred for the first time. Some victims claimed that that they were unaware of identity theft for as long as five years. The average amount of time between the date the identity theft occurred and the date it was noticed by the victim was 14 months.

  • The most disturbing Identity Theft Statistics remains that in half of the cases reported to the FTC the thief was know to the victim and it was a family member in most cases and sometimes an estranged one.

  • 50% of victims claimed that a new credit card was obtained in their name and some charges were placed on their existing cards.

  • 25% of victims stated that a new Phone line or a Utility service was obtained in their name.

  • 16% of victims reported that a new bank account was fraudulently opened in their name and that fraudulent checks were issued or unauthorized withdrawals had been made from their account.

  • 9% of victims reported that some type of loan was obtained in their name.

  • 8% of victims reported that the identity thief had obtained or forged a government document such as a driver's license, filed a fraudulent document such as a tax return, or obtained government benefits in their name.

  • Other Identity Theft Statistics included the misuse of the victims' personal information to gain employment, obtain medical services, evade legal sanctions and criminal records, obtain tax refunds, open or access Internet accounts, declare bankruptcy, lease residences, and purchase or trade in securities and investments.
 
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