According to recent identity theft statistics reports over 21000 become victims of identity theft on a daily basis. This number amounts to approximately 8 million new victims per year, many of whom make their identity theft stories public. Approximately 4% to 6% of all Americans become victims on a yearly basis.
Despite the high number this was actually a 28% decrease from last year. According to the FTC study conducted by Javelin Strategy & Research, 3 million fewer adults reported that they had become victims of identity theft. Total losses were 37 billion which is down from 56 billion the year before. This chart shows the data for the 5 years ending in 2010 (most recent study published).
Billions of Dollars Lost Per Year
| 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 65 | 55 | 48 | 49 | 56 | 37 |
Over the last eight years this was the largest annual decrease. This is attributed to the fact that business are becoming better at preventing data from becoming compromised. According to the DataLossDB project, data breaches for 2010 were down to 407 incidents or 26 million records exposed. This compares to 604 incidentes or 221 million records exposed in 2009.
Identity theft statistics show that credit card fraud was the number one complaint at 17% of all complaints received. Identity theft by government documents/benefits followed at 16%, phone/utility fraud at 15%. Identity fraud by employment records or documents came in at 13% with bank fraud at 10% and loan fraud at 4%. There were numerous other classification of id theft that combined to 23% of all complants.
The percentage of people surveyed that claimed to be victims of identity theft who did not report the incident to authorities is stagering but has improved. The last three years studied are shown in the chart below.
| 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 27% | 28% | 62% | Notified Police – Report taken |
| 8% | 6% | 8% | Notified Police – No Report Taken |
| <1% | <1% | 3% | Notified Police – No info regarding report |
| 65% | 64% | 28% | Did Not Notify Police |
People of all ages have become victims of identity theft, but the largest group are aged 20 to 29. This charts illustrated the percentages over 2007 to 2009.
| Avg Age | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 19 & under | 8% | 7% | 7% |
| 20 – 29 | 24% | 25% | 24% |
| 30 – 39 | 23% | 23% | 22% |
| 40 – 49 | 20% | 19% | 19% |
| 50 – 59 | 14% | 14% | 15% |
| 60 – 69 | 7% | 7% | 8% |
| 70+ | 4% | 5% | 5% |
The average victim’s out of pocket expenses to repair/regain their identity has risen significantly. In 2009 it cost an average of $387 per incident, this was up to $631 in 2010, an increase of 63 percent.
The FTC estimates that will take the average victim 14-16 weeks to clear their names in the event of identity theft. They will spend roughly 175 hrs of their personal time and about $800 simply clear their names and restore their credit rating. So it’s essential that you keep the accounts safe because if you’re a victim, you can’t fix your credit easily or quickly.
In addition to the nearly 10 million people who become victims approximately 100 million additional people in America get their personal information placed in jeopard of identity theft every year when records maintained in government and corporate databases are lost or stolen.
As you can see from these identity theft statistics this is a growing problem. Despite the numbers being down in 2010 the numbers will probably grow as more and more people go online and the thieves become more sophisticated.
At identitytheftstories.net we look to these sites and others for further information about identity theft related issues and solutions. We hope that you will find them useful as well.
Scarlett Johansson : News : People.com
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