Identity Theft Protection Lock

Call it ID theft, identity theft, or whatever title you prefer, but the fact remains that it’s with us and it seems to be here to stay. Identity theft is happening in record numbers around the world. Most of the time, it strikes the victim when they least expect it. With so many identity-theft prevention tools and programs available, why aren’t more people taking advantage of them to secure their identity? After all, identity theft statistics are scary at best. One look at the following ID-theft statistics will help put things in perspective:

Identity theft statistics for number of complaints per year: According to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the number of identity-theft complaints filed for 2004 was 246,882, compared to 255,613 cases reported in 2005, and another 246,035 cases reported in 2006, which is the most recent statistic they offer. Furthermore, when it comes to the complaint categories, identity theft was by far the leader, making up 36 percent of all the complaints they received.

How was the stolen identity information used? According to the FTC, in 25% of the cases it was used for credit card fraud, 16% for bank, phone and utilities fraud, another 10% for obtaining government documents or benefits, 5% for loan fraud, and 24% for other miscellaneous types of identity theft.

How old were the victims of the identity theft? That same FTC report shows that 5% of the victims were under the age of 18, 29% were between the ages of 18-29, 23% were 30-39, 20% were 40-49, 13% were 50-59, and 10% were 60 and over. As you can see, those between the ages of 18 and 40 make up the largest group of identity theft victims. However, even children are being targeted when it comes to ID theft.

Where is it happening the most? The states receiving the most identity theft complaints are Arizona, Nevada, California, Texas, and Florida. In 2006 alone, the State of California had over 41,000 identity-theft cases reported. The lowest numbers of cases were reported in Vermont, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Iowa. Vermont had the very lowest number of reported cases, with only 178 in one year.

How long does it take for the victim to realize their identity has been stolen? The FTC reports that nearly half of the people realized it within a month. Another 17% percent realized it within six months. The rest of the people took longer than seven months to realize their identity had been stolen, with a whopping 9% not knowing about it for over 60 months after it happened.

Identity theft statistics help to put the problem into perspective. ID theft is happening in large numbers in every state in the union, and among every age group out there. Half of the people don’t realize it has happened until more than six months later. A lot of damage can be done during that time. It is imperative that everyone with an ID take steps to prevent identity theft. Always keep you information secure, monitor your credit and banking accounts, and take advantage of security options like those offered by LifeLock, to help keep your records monitored and you alerted immediately if something doesn’t seem right. It’s the best tool you have, at this point, to keep from becoming just another identity-theft statistic.

You are covered by our $1 Million Total Service Guarantee from the moment you enroll. If in the unfortunate event your identity is misused while you are a LifeLock member, we will pay professionals to resolve the problem for you – up to $1 million!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 2nd, 2008 at 11:27 pm and is filed under Data Breaches, Identity Theft. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.