Statistics

Last year, the number of identity fraud victims increased over 12% to 11.1 million Americans with damages for the crime totaling over $54 billion. According to Javelin Strategy & Research, identity misuse has increased for the second straight year and is at the highest rate recorded since 2003 when the company started studying this trend. The rise in fraud is most likely linked to the historical correlation between economic downturns and fraudulent activities.

Because consumers are becoming more vigilant about protecting their information, they are detecting fraud sooner but the mean fraud amount per victim stays the same as previous years at $4,841. There has been an increase in new account fraud, with the number of fraudulent new credit accounts increasing to 39% of all identity fraud victims.

Identity theft has affected a large portion of the population and will continue to be a problem in the future:

• 11.1 million Americans victims of identity theft in 20091
  
• $54 billion in total damages from identity theft in 20091
  
• $4,841 was the average fraud amount per victim1
  
• 42% of victims reported the imposter was a friend, family member, ex-spouse, or co-worker (ID theft is a crime of opportunity) 2
  
• 70% of identity theft victims denied credit or had credit card cancelled2
  
• It takes between 58-165 hours to repair damage following misuse of an existing and new account, respectively2

¹ Javelin Strategy and Research, Identity Fraud Survey Report, 2010
² Identity Theft Resource Center, The Aftermath Study, 2008