Survey Finds 8.3 Million Americans Targeted by Identity Thieves

In 2005, around 8.3 Million American inhabitants (almost 4% of the country's populace) were targets of identity theft, but only some of them recognized it to be the handiwork of cyber criminals, stated a US Federal Trade Commission survey issued on November 28, 2007.

Out of the 5,000 individuals studied, 3.7% alleged their IDs had been purloined. Amongst these targets, 66% made this discovery by investigating absolutely on their own. For example, 26% detected the theft of their IDs by checking their personal accounts. About 18% told they found out after they had got a statement.

The FTC figures, received via telephonic poll, learned that 56% of Identity theft targets were not aware how their private data was purloined. Merely 1% of the duped individuals recognized cyber crime as the source of the Identity theft, even as 1% found out a machine-based phishing strike, where Identity snatchers usually transmit false e-mails that seem to have originated from banks or vendors and solicit access details.

The FTC survey observes ID theft estimate for 2005, the last information on hand. Another FTC survey that calculated Identity theft in 2003 provides exceedingly high figures, but statisticians ascribed the disparity to change in tactics instead of a decline in Identity theft.

About 16% of the targets were acquainted with the ID criminals in person, and 7% alleged the information loss resulted from a financial dealing, subsuming online, personal and mail orders.

FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection's Director Lydia Parnes in a report asserted that nobody is resistant to ID theft, informed PC World on November 28, 2007. The main thing is that individuals learn ways of thwarting ID thieves, spot dubious dealings on their financial accounts, and put up a fight against the offense, if it occurs.

The expenditure related with ID theft differed significantly. Around 10% of victims in the latest study alleged hackers gained goods or services valued at minimum $6,000. Over 50% of the individuals alleged that hackers gained approximately $500. Round about 10% of individuals complained of out-of-pocket costs amounting to about $1,200, whereas over 50% stated they did not spend anything.

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» SPAMfighter News - 12/7/2007