Identity theft continues to make the news because the numbers are sky high. Cases of identity theft also make the news because of the effect it has on the victims. Victims who can spend years trying to recover. The stress alone is bad enough but when the time and money spent or lost reversing the crime is factored in, lives are seriously disrupted.
Besides ordinary identity theft there is also tax identity theft, medical identity theft and childrens identity theft. While many people think it won’t happen to them, the numbers suggest quite a different outcome. Here are some identity theft facts and statistics that might make you think twice before throwing your personal information un-shredded into the garbage.
- It was reported that 12.6 million Americans were victims of identity fraud in 2012 meaning there was a new victim every 3 seconds or an increase of one million more compared to 2011.
- Identity theft topped the IRS Dirty Dozen list in 2013. In 2012 the IRS was able to stop $20 billion dollars worth of identity theft. The enforcement effort saved $4 billion dollars more than the previous year. But because of the increase in the crime and because it is so widespread much more still needs to be done, for those reasons the IRS made identity theft the number 1 crime on the list.
- The crime also topped the Federal Trade Commissions list, in fact 2012 was the 13th year in a row that identity theft was the number one problem.
- The average victim spends between 170 to 300 hours working on cleaning up or resolving identity theft and loss related issues. The crime itself though can affect people for years.
- Medical identity theft reports Bloomberg, can take one year to resolve and costs the average victim $22,346 rising from $20,663.
- In another survey of information from the Bureau of Justice statistics it was found that 23% of the victims they gathered information on had an out of pocket loss from the theft. This means that though the theft was reported, for whatever reason not all of the charges were reversed or compensated for, an especially chilling identity theft statistic.
Other factors
What about online identity theft statistics? Or medical identity theft statistics? This theft runs deeper than racking up medical bills, it can have further implications if an illegal drug user were to steal an identity and cause wrongful arrests of the victims whose identity was used. Worse, care could be compromised by the hospitals themselves when this theft occurs. Online theft? Phishing is the leading form of gathering personal information online. With around 500 million phishing email attempts – per day – it is no wonder it works as often as it does. Cast a large enough net and you will catch some fish.
So what do these numbers mean? When it is broken down per person in the United States, chances are that you or someone you know is going to be the victim of identity theft. Even if you are cautious about your personal information, large companies that house payment information are often targeted due to the volume of identities that can be stolen in a single data breach. When entire businesses have sprung up to help these large companies protect the data that they store, it makes you think. This is bigger than a simple IT issue.
Threats to personal information aren’t going to go away, because as far as crime goes, it is relatively easy and safe for the scam artists to pull off. To steal thousands, without ever having to interact with an individual in person, sounds like a pretty good idea to the criminals out there looking to make some quick cash at the expense of others. If the crime wasn’t profitable to the criminals there wouldn’t be so much of it going on!
Is there anything that you can do to protect your information?
The thing is, it is reported because it is happening. True, it is nearly impossible to protect against every threat out there. But still, far too many consumers do nothing to protect against identity theft even though they hear so much about it. It would appear for some people the threat isn’t real until it hits home and then it’s too late.
This threat should be taken seriously. Plenty of information is available to consumers regarding methods to use that can help prevent identity theft. Credit monitoring is one of those methods, it could be likened to a fire detector, a garden hose and a house fire. If a fire starts the detector would alert the homeowner and a garden hose may be able to put it out or stop the fire from spreading. Credit monitoring would allow the public to see unauthorized transactions by sending alerts which the consumer could use to stop it or keep the theft from spreading into a full blown identity theft fire.
Taking the time to shred papers before throwing them out, using secure internet protocols are also helpful precautions that everyone should use.
Have you experienced a data breach or loss of personal information leading to identity theft? Were you able to recuperate your losses or were there out of pocket expenses beyond the time spent cleaning up the mess? Share your experiences in the comments below.
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