Identity Theft Statistics

How serious is identity theft?

Well, according to identity theft statistics published in 2003 by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) , it was reported that identity theft complaints to the agency have doubled every year since the inception of the identity theft program in 1998.

27.3 Million identity theft victims and Billions in losses were reported in a period of 5 years from 1998 to 2003; 9.9 Million of which occurred in the last year of the report period alone, leading to $48 Billion in losses to businesses and financial institutions and $5 Billion out-of-pocket expenses reported by consumers.

The identity theft statistics also revealed that the various frauds committed as a result of the identity theft included opening 3.23 Million new accounts, renting an apartment or home, obtaining new employment or medical care. In these cases, average losses to businesses and financial institutions per victim were $10,200. Individuals lost an average of $1,180 since not all consumer costs are covered by the laws limiting consumer liability in case of an identity theft. When individual existing accounts were the targets of the fraud, the loss to businesses averaged $2100 per victim. For all forms of identity theft combined, the total loss to business was $4800 and $500 to consumers.

52% of all victims (or 5 Million in 2003), discover they have been victims of identity theft through credit monitoring. It is very important to read and understand the identity theft detection controls described in the credit report section.

26% of all identity theft victims (or 2.5 Million people) were notified by their bank, credit card issuers or financial institutions when identity theft was first detected. In our case, my wife and I were notified by the credit card company asking us if the unusual charges were made by us. Read about our identity theft case here. 15% of all identity theft cases (or 1.5 Million people) were victims of non-financial frauds such as obtaining government documents, or on tax forms. The most common of all was committing fraud while being stopped by law enforcement. This is the case where people claim to be you when stopped while they are committing a crime like DUI.

67% (or 6.5 Million people) reported existing credit card misuse. 19% reported checking and savings account misuse.

25% (or 2.5 Million people) reported lost and stolen credit cards, check books, or social security cards, potentially contributing to their identity theft cases.

Go from identity theft statistics to how it occurs.