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Identity Theft Statistics: Alarming Figures That Reveal Epidemic-Like Conditions

Identity theft statistics have an alarming story to tell. According to statistical information for the year 2003, one in every four households has been a victim of identity theft in the preceding five years. The federal government has tried to measure the full extent of the crimes involving identity theft and, come up with startling figures. As many as 10 million persons in the United States were known to have become victims of identity theft in a single year, according to surveys conducted by the Federal Trade Commission that studied 4,000 adult respondents.

Staggering Costs

The cost of such identity theft, according to available identity theft statistics are estimated to amount to US$5 billion in out-of-pocket expenses and, were almost US$48 billion in losses incurred by businesses as well as financial institutions, in a given year. These identity theft statistics further reveal, it is believed, that there were 9.9 million victims and, that average loss to businesses for each victim amounted to US$4,800. Businesses suffered losses totaling $47.6 billion and, the average out-of-pocket expenses totaled five hundred dollars per victim. These and other identity theft statistics point to a growing crime wave involving identity theft.

Identity theft may involve instances of fraudulent charging of an existing credit card account or using a person’s stolen identity to open a new account. Since many people often do not report the identity theft, it is also quite difficult to obtain accurate data pertaining to such crimes and, according to surveys, only one fourth of identity theft victims actually reported the crime. The best one can hope from such identity theft statistics is to obtain an estimate of the exact figures.

Only a Few Actually Report Identity Thefts

From information available regarding identity theft statistics, one can find that almost a quarter of all victims reported having their personal information being lost or stolen and, only eleven percent said they were aware that their identities had been stolen prior to knowing that they had become identity theft victims. Also, the most identity thefts occurred in the South and West of America, while the Midwest recorded the lowest incidence of identity thefts.

Of the identity theft victims, 25 percent reported misuse of their information occurring in a single day and, twelve percent reported the crime occurring over a six month period of time. These identity theft statistics only underscore the necessity of the need to have tougher legislation enacted to combat these epidemic-like circumstances. Such epidemic-like circumstance may be due to the fact that lenders make it all too easy to obtain credit.