Identity theft is such a huge problem (in fact, it’s the fastest growing crime in America) that it can be hard to get a handle on some of the main facts at the center of it all. So here is a quick reference guide with some of the facts you really should know about identity theft.
1. Every 3.8 seconds someone has his or her identity stolen.
2. Drug trafficking has officially been replaced by identity theft as the number one crime.
3. 18% of victims claim their identities were being used fraudulently for four years before they found out about it.
4. An average of 56.6 billion dollars is lost by businesses each year due to identity theft.
5. 47% of victims have a hard time receiving loans or credit after having their identities stolen.
6. 19% of victims are hit with higher interest rates due to the negative impact of identity theft on their credit reports.
7. 16% of victims get charged higher insurance premiums as a result of identity theft.
8. 70% of victims have to make repeated attempts to have inaccurate information removed from their credit reports.
9. 66% of identity theft victims have new accounts that they don’t know about opened in their names.
10. 43% of victims claim to personally know the person who stole their identities.
11. Victims spend an average of 330 hours repairing their credit after having their identities stolen.
12. New York, California, Nevada, Arizona, Washington and Texas have the most cases of identity theft per capita.
13. 7.2 million households are affected by identity theft per year.
14. 10 million individuals become victims of identity theft per year.
15. Most thieves still rely on traditional (non technological) methods of stealing people’s identities.
16. Only 15% of people find out they’ve been victimized by being proactive. The others find out by being denied credit, receiving a phone call from a
debt collection agency, etc…
17. The emotional impact of being a victim of identity theft is parallel to those victimized by violent crime.
18. 49% of victims have no idea how their information was obtained by a thief.
19. People between the ages of 18 and 29 have the highest risk of being victimized.
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When Athens native Bobby Roberts placed a bid of more than $1,000 for the contents of a delinquent storage unit in Florence, he said he thought he was buying medical equipment and maybe old office files.
