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Identity Theft Statistics
Recent Identity Theft Statistics
By: Marvin Perry
The crime most commonly known as, identity theft, is the fastest growing felony in our country. The annual identity theft
statistics report,
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gathered by the Federal Trade Commission, have confirmed that this particular crime has grown to epidemic
proportions in America. Millions of people are falling victim to consumer fraud and id theft each year without ever
knowing it.
During the year of 2005, over 685,000 people have become victims of id theft and consumer fraud. Consumers reported
loosing $680 million dollars, in 2005, from this fraudulent crime. These statistics may not be precisely
accurate due to the difficulty of gathering this information, since most victims are unaware of the occurrence and few
people report the crime to authorities. These identity theft statistics are partly collected from law enforcement reports
but most cases are rarely reported, making exact numbers impossible. In this section, we are going to give you some
identity theft statistics reported by the Federal Trade Commission.
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For the calendar year of 2005, 685,000 cases of identity fraud were received by the FTC.
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Approximately 20% of all reported complaints were telecommunications and internet related.
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The most popular form of id theft reported, in 2005, was credit card fraud at 26% followed by phone and utility fraud
at 18%.
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The major metropolitan area with the highest rate of identity theft per capita was Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, AZ, which was
closely followed by Las Vegas-Paradise, NV.
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Consumers between the ages of 30 - 39 are the most targeted victims of identity theft at a complaint percentage of 24%.
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1 out of 50 consumers have suffered as victims of identity theft.
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Every 79 seconds, a thief steals someone's private account information to purchase items or go on a buying spree.
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Identity theft victims spend an average of $1,500 and approximately 175 hours to repair the damage.
These yearly reports of identity theft prove the magnitude of this crime wave. The federal surveys used to
collect these identity theft statistics have also shown how consumers are so concerned about I.D fraud that they are
pressuring for changes in the way businesses handle personal\ private information and electronic transactions.
Identity theft has become one of the most commonly reported crimes in America. Instead of robbing banks to steal money,
criminals have found more advanced and safer ways of doing this, by robbing identities. One of the primary preventive
measures someone should use in order to maintain identity theft protection is to carefully monitor all financial transactions and any unexplained activity on their accounts.
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