Identity theft continues to be one of the fastest growing crimes in the United States, affecting both consumers and businesses, according to the nonprofit organization Identity Theft Resource Center.
It is important for consumers to recognize that identity theft is not just a financial crime. This crime varies widely, and can include financial identity theft (checking and/or credit card fraud), criminal identity theft, governmental identity theft, and medical identity theft, the San Diego-based ITRC says.
Identity theft complaints continue to rank number one in the Federal Trade Commission’s list of complaints. Many of the complaints involved issues with government documents or benefits fraud—led by Florida.
“Identity Theft/Fraudulent Use or Access” is the fourth-largest type of cyber-related cases, according to Advisen.
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The number of identity theft cases has been in decline since a spike in 2011, which followed a dip in 2010.
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According to data compiled by the ITRC this might be explained by the amount of recorded breaches the prior year. (The ITRC breach list is a compilation of data breaches confirmed by various media sources and/or notification lists from state governmental agencies.)
An estimated 16.6 million people –about 7 percent of US residents over the age of 16—were the victim of at least one incident of identity theft in 2012, according to the US Justice Department’s Bureau of Justice Statistics.
The services industry is the largest victim of identity theft, followed by finance, insurance and real estate. By nature, these industries collect large amounts of personal information from customers.
Service industry companies are involved in retail, transport, distribution, food services, as well as other service-dominated businesses.
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“Data breaches are becoming more commonplace and understood by the general public due in part to publicity surrounding the many high profile incidents that occurred over the past year,” said a section of Verizon’s 2014 Data Breach Investigations Report by the ITRC.
“Consumers are faced with the fact that their personal identifying information is being left unsecured by those entrusted to protect it.”
According to Advisen data, server breaches make up the largest source of loss, followed by printed records.
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Chad Hemenway is Managing Editor of Advisen News. He has more than 15 years of journalist experience at a variety of online, daily, and weekly publications. He has covered P&C insurance news since 2007, and he has experience writing about all P&C lines as well as regulation and litigation. Chad won a Jesse H. Neal Award for Best Single Article in 2014 for his coverage of the insurance implications of traumatic brain injuries and Best News Coverage in 2013 for coverage of Superstorm Sandy. Contact Chad at 212.897.4824 or [email protected].
