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The Identity Theft Resource Center Statistics
Posted on June 27th, 2008 No commentsThe Identity Theft Resource Center® (ITRC) released an important report discussing the impact of identity theft victimization. Since 2003, the Identity Theft Resource Center has conducted annual victimization surveys to study the impact of identity theft crimes on its victims. Now in its fifth year, the report allows us to analyze the data, draw some conclusions, map trends and identify areas for further research. While ITRC reports the data in terms of percentages, it is critical that we remember those numbers represent people. These are people with lives that have been interrupted, altered, torn apart and/or changed.
Sources of Stolen Information: With a five-year history to study, it
is clear that, according to the respondents, about one-third of cases
were started by a person known to the victim. The next highest
category of identity theft originated from a lost/stolen wallet or PDA.
Scams have become more of a problem for victims in 2007 than in
previous years. Identity theft due to mail theft and theft of
information from a burglary of a car or home has dropped in the past
few years.Victim Hours Repairing Damage: In The Aftermath 2007, victims reported
spending an average of 116 hours repairing the damage done by identity
theft to an existing account used or taken over by the thief. Answers
also included 6,000 hours, 8,640 hours, and 5 years of time (outliers).
In cases where a new account was created, respondents reported an
average of 158 hours to clean up the mess with outliers of “endless”
and “too many to count.”Extended involvement: In 2007, 70% of victims indicated that it took
up to 12 months to clear issues of all misinformation, compared to 50%
in 2006. A moderate amount of victims (12%) took one to two years.
Unfortunately, some 19% indicated that it took two or more years to
resolve their case.Unexpected secondary effects: Victims reported a number of additional
problems including: increases in insurance rates, current credit card
interest rates and criminal records not being cleared. The inability to
get credit resonated with the majority of respondents (64%). In
addition, 53% have collection agencies still calling; 27% had credit
cards cancelled (even though the accounts were being properly
maintained); 18% said it affected their ability to get a job; and 14%
reported tenancy issues.Relationship of Imposter to Victim: It is important to note that a
large percentage of respondents seem to have been victimized by those
who may have had easy access to personal identifying information
including friends, family members, ex-spouses/significant other, or
those in close contact with the victim, such as co-workers.Emotional Impact: Few significant positive changes have occurred in
the feelings of victims and in terms of reported victim symptomology.
More than 49% of the respondents reported a stressed family life; 22%
felt betrayed by unsupportive family members and friends; and 23% said
their family didn’t understand. The strongest feelings expressed were rage
or anger; betrayal; unprotected by police; personal financial fears; sense of
powerlessness; sense they were grieving, annoyed, frustrated or exhausted;
sleep disturbances; an inability to trust people; and the desire to give up and
stop fighting the system. Long-term emotional responses included suicidal;
feeling captive; ready to give up; and felt that they have lost everything.Before you have to deal with all of this in addition to having your identity stolen,
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