Identity Theft News

Identity Theft in U.S. 27.3 Million Victims

The Federal Trade Commission today released a survey showing that 27.3 million Americans have been victims of identity theft in the last five years, including 9.9 million people in the last year alone. According to the survey, last year’s identity theft losses to businesses and financial institutions totaled nearly $48 billion and consumer victims reported $5 billion in out-of-pocket expenses. The agency also released a Commission report detailing its ID theft program since its inception.

“These numbers are the real thing,” said Howard Beales, Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection. “For several years we have been seeing anecdotal evidence that identity theft is a significant problem that is on the rise. Now we know. It is affecting millions of consumers and costing billions of dollars. This information can serve to galvanize federal, state, and local law enforcers, the business community, and consumers to work together to combat this menace.”

The FTC is the nation’s consumer protection agency. Since 1998, the FTC has had an Identity Theft Program to assist identity theft victims and provide guidance on how to resolve the problems, provide law enforcement training, maintain a nationwide database of ID theft complaints available to law enforcement and refer complaints to criminal law enforcement agencies, and provide business and consumer education. The FTC also maintains the nation’s primary identity theft Web site, which provides critical resources for consumers, businesses, and law enforcers at consumer.gov

A number of laws limit consumers’ liability if they are the victim of identity theft. Not all costs are covered, however. The survey reviewed the different impact on victims who had existing accounts misused and those victims where the thieves opened new accounts in their names. Where the thieves opened new accounts, the per-victim dollar loss to both businesses and victims was higher and the time spent resolving the problems was greater. The survey found in the past 12 months that 3.23 million consumers discovered that new accounts had been opened, and other frauds such as renting an apartment or home, obtaining medical care or employment, had been committed in their name. In those cases, the loss to businesses and financial institutions was $10,200 per victim. Individual victims lost an average of $1,180. Where the thieves solely used a victim’s established accounts, the loss to businesses was $2,100 per victim. For all forms of identity theft, the loss to business was $4,800 and the loss to consumers was $500, on average. Read more at ftc.gov

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