The most common cause of stolen credit cards. Every six minutes in America, someone’s identity is stolen. How Often Does Identity Theft Occur? Individuals reported losses of $3.3 Billion to identity theft or fraud last year. The second-most common way credit cards are stolen is through imposter fraud. It’s a faster, more efficient way to get things done. How do you convince people to take their passwords more seriously? Although these personal things make it easy for a person to remember passwords and security questions, it also makes them an easy victim. Secure your home network: Strong passwords. The high number is primarily due to users not being aware that public WiFi could present a danger for their personal data. We do not claim, and you should not assume, that all users will have the same experiences. Much of the government benefit fraud (that became the most common type of identity theft) occurred because government agencies didn’t have time to put secure platforms in place before taking all their business to the internet. How Many Cases of Loan or Lease Fraud Were Reported? Loan or lease fraud was the third-most-common form of identity theft in 2020, with 204,967 reported cases.
In 2020, the most common types of identity theft were government document or benefit fraud, credit card fraud (specifically opening new accounts), and loan or lease fraud. Phone or other utilities fraud accounted for 99, 539 cases of identity theft last year. If you are outside the U.S., call the phone number for international callers listed in the Letter 5447C, fiserv which is not toll-free. As to race and ethnic origin, the percentage of White/Non-Hispanic, African American, and Native American victims are higher than their corresponding percentages of the entire US population. So while California may have the highest number of reports of identity theft by state, Nevada has the highest percentage per capita of its state’s population. While we can certainly educate ourselves and minimize the risk of becoming a victim, it is wise to find reputable companies to help with early detection and identity restoration expertise. Here’s how it works: you will receive a legitimate-looking email from a government representative (usually from an African country) asking for your financial help. This is when someone, typically by phone, contacts the cardholder and gains information directly from them by appearing to be a legitimate representative of a company, charity, or bank.
If you report identity theft to the FTC by phone, the agency will collect details related to the theft. In 2020 alone, 91,515 cases of “stolen” credit card information occurred, according to the FTC. How Many Cases of Phone or Utility Fraud Occurred in 2020? There were 393,207 cases of credit card fraud last year, making it the second-highest form of identity theft. This opened up everyone to even more opportunities for online identity theft attacks. Computer crime was the fastest-growing type of crime in the world before everyone began working, going to school, shopping for even the basics, and ordering dinner from the corner diner online. Identity theft is a crime that isn’t going away anytime soon, and it is one that affects millions of victims every year. The difference between identity scams and traditional identity frauds is that the victims willingly interacted with scammers and divulged their personal data. There’s a new victim of identity theft every 2 seconds, according to the Javelin study. How much money is lost to identity theft each year? While those younger than 60 are more frequently targeted, those over 60 tend to lose more money to identity theft and fraud. That may seem like too many cases too often, but when you look at the types of identity theft and fraud that commonly occur, it’s easy to see just how often identity theft does occur.
In fact, 73% of all victims reported to the ITRC difficulties with paying their rent or mortgage, paying utilities, and buying necessities like groceries as a result of the identity theft, which would affect the victim’s entire family. Given that married women are the main victims of identity theft, one can assume that their husbands and children are affected, as well. Normally, children under 19, young adults 20 to 29, and seniors over 60 are the most common victims of identity theft. Persons aged 25 to 34 were most likely to experience identity theft (1.0% or 33,700 persons in that age group) whilst persons aged 55 years and over were the least likely (0.4% or 25,900 persons in that age group). 2020 was an atypical year for identity theft, in that 30 to 39-year-olds were the most frequently targeted age group for identity theft. If you become a victim of identity theft, you should take immediate action. The pandemic gave identity thieves a “perfect storm” in which to operate. 2020’s increase in identity theft and the rather unique opportunities offered by the pandemic cost American consumer’s a total of $56 Billion, according to Javelin Strategy and Research.
