Identity Theft Facts

Courtesy of PrivacyMatters.com

Id theft, we’d all like to think, is something that happens to other folks, not us. The unfortunate reality, though, is that anyone and everyone can be an ID theft victim, from celebrities like Steven Spielberg and Mel Gibson to CEO’s at Fortune 500 companies to ordinary folks like your neighbor down the street-and you.

Facts and Statistics

• According to two studies done in July 2003, one by Gartner Research and the other by Harris Interactive, approximately 7-10 million people had their identities stolen in the prior 12 months. That works out to 19,178 victims per day, 799 per hour, 13.3 per minute.*
• Identity theft victims now spend and average of 600 hours recovering from ID theft, often over a period of years, according to the Identity Theft Resource center (IRTC). Three years ago, the average recovery time spent was 175 hours.*
• Victims spend an average of $1400 in out of pocket expenses, an increase of 85% from previous studies.*
• Law enforcement figures indicate that the average arrest rate for ID theft crimes is under 5% of all reported cases by victims.*
• Nearly 85% of all victims find out about their Identity theft case in a negative manner (for example, being denied credit or loan applications, finding unauthorized charges on credit card accounts, etc.) Only 15% of victims find out due to a proactive action taken by a business.**
• Crimes committed after ID theft occurs include the opening of a credit card (73%) and the takeover of a card account (27%), according to respondents.**

According to the FTC, the total U.S. annual identity fraud cost in 2004 was $52.6 billion, an increase of 2.3% from the 2003 inflation-adjusted level of $51.4 billion.**