Identity Theft Statistics Revealed
The number of identity theft cases has been increasing daily. In fact, according to the identity theft statistics, the Federal Trade Commission reported that for 4 continuous years, identity theft has been on the top of the list of consumer complaints.
According to FTC identity theft statistics, there are approximately 10 million consumers, mostly American, who have discovered that their personal information has been intentionally used to open up a fraudulent bank accounts, utility accounts and credit card accounts.
The worst is that their personal information has been wrongfully used to commit serious crimes with their names. In the FTC identity theft statistics, more than 50 percent of theft victims reported new accounts opened such as credit card accounts and other fraudulent accounts.
Mostly, new credit cards have been used for fraud activities. This happens when a thief opens up new accounts using another person’s name. Identity theft statistics have estimated that this has victimized over 3.23 million people in the world. This large number is continuously increasing.
Identity theft statistics have shown that it has cost victims nearly $53 billion for both existing and new accounts. This large number of identity thefts includes individual and business victims in a single year. No wonder why this crime increases every year and is very hard to cease.
To be specific, identity theft statistics have shown that 47.5 billion people have been victims of identity theft. The individual victims are counted when thefts surpass $500 per victim in a year.
According to identity theft statistics, most Americans have spent about 300 million hours in resolving the arising issues resulting from identity theft cases. It has been estimated that in every 30 to 60 hours a victim handles various matters which are related to cases of identity theft, whether from creating a new account or using existing accounts.
Identity theft statistics have proven that the people who have been victimized by identity theft know the thieves who have stolen their precious and unique names and identity. To avoid this from happening, you should not share important information with anyone so that other people cannot access your accounts in any way. If you absolutely must share, make sure that the people you share important information with can be trusted.
People who you think are not capable of identity theft are the ones who have the will to do it. Make sure that they will not have any idea on how to access such important information. Someone very close to you can be a suspect. Anyone around you can be suspect and they choose those who are vulnerable so you need to be very careful.
Identity theft statistics have shown that it starts in the workplace. You might not know it but they could be your officemates, co-workers, employees, people that you deal with every single day.
Employee identities have been stolen mostly because of their connections to companies that are not handled carefully and safely. Your boss could even be the suspect. He has access to your personal information, which he can retrieve from your job application.
In the last five years, more than 25 million people have been victims of identity theft. The identity theft victims can easily spend 175 hours of their personal time and about $800 just to clear their names and restore their credit history. The Federal Trade Commission has estimated that a victim will spend 14-16 months of clearing their names in cases of identity theft. So it is important that you keep your accounts safe because if you are a victim, you cannot fix your credit easily and it will take a very long time to repair the damage.
Category: Identity Theft