Official Identity Theft Statistics

Here you'll find recent identity theft statistics from a variety of official sources. We update this page on a regular basis, so visit us often to see the latest facts and figures on this widespread crime.

Victims

• There were 10 million victims of identity theft in 2008 in the United States (Javelin Strategy and Research, 2009).
• 1 in every 10 U.S. consumers has already been victimized by identity theft (Javelin Strategy and Research, 2009).
• 1.6 million households experienced fraud not related to credit cards (i.e. their bank accounts or debit cards were compromised) (U.S. Department of Justice, 2005).
• Those households with incomes higher than $70,000 were twice as likely to experience identity theft than those with salaries under $50,000 (U.S. DOJ, 2005).
• 7% of identity theft victims had their information stolen to commit medical identity theft.

Discovery

• 38-48% discover someone has stolen their identity within three months, while 9-18% of victims don't learn that their identity has been stolen for four or more years (Identity Theft Resource Center Aftermath Study, 2004).
• 50.2 million Americans were using a credit monitoring service as of September 2008 (Javelin Strategy and Research, 2009).
• 44% of consumers view their credit reports using AnnualCreditReport.com. One in seven consumers receive their credit report via a credit monitoring service. (Javelin Strategy and Research, 2009).

Recovery

• It can take up to 5,840 hours (the equivalent of working a full-time job for two years) to correct the damage from ID theft, depending on the severity of the case (ITRC Aftermath Study, 2004).
• The average victim spends 330 hours repairing the damage (ITRC Aftermath Study, 2004).
• It takes 26-32% of victims between 4 and 6 months to straighten out problems caused by identity theft; 11-23% of victims spend 7 months to a year resolving their cases (ITRC Aftermath Study, 2004).
• 25.9 million Americans carry identity theft insurance (as of September 2008, from Javelin Strategy and Research, 2009).
• After suffering identity theft, 46% of victims installed antivirus, anti-spyware, or a firewall on their computer. 23% switched their primary bank or credit union, and 22% switched credit card companies (Javelin Strategy and Research, 2009).
• Victims of ID theft must contact multiple agencies to resolve the fraud: 66% interact with financial institutions; 40% contact credit bureaus; 35% seek help from law enforcement; 22% deal with debt collectors; 20% work with identity theft assistant services; and 13% contact the Federal Trade Commission (Javelin Strategy and Research, 2009).

Costs

• In 2008, existing account fraud in the U.S. totaled $31 billion (Javelin Strategy and Research, 2009).
• Businesses across the world lose $221 billion a year due to identity theft (Aberdeen Group).
• On average, victims lose between $851 and $1,378 out-of-pocket trying to resolve identity theft (ITRC Aftermath Study, 2004).
• The mean cost per victim is $500 (Javelin Strategy and Research, 2009).
• 47% of victims encounter problems qualifying for a new loan (ITRC Aftermath Study, 2004).
• 70% of victims have difficulty removing negative information that resulted from identity theft from their credit reports (ITRC Aftermath Study, 2004).
• Dollar amount lost per household averaged $1,620 (U.S. DOJ, 2005).

Perpetrators

• 43% of victims knew the perpetrator (ITRC Aftermath Study, 2004).
• In cases of child identity theft, the most common perpetrator is the child's parent (ITRC Aftermath Study, 2004).

Methods

• Stolen wallets and physical paperwork accounts for almost half (43%) of all identity theft (Javelin Strategy and Research, 2009).
• Online methods accounted for only 11% (Javelin Strategy and Research, 2009).
• 38% of ID theft victims had their debit or credit card number stolen (Javelin Strategy and Research, 2009).
• 37% of ID theft victims had their Social Security number stolen (Javelin Strategy and Research, 2009).
• 36% of ID theft victims had their name and phone number compromised (Javelin Strategy and Research, 2009).
• 24% of ID theft victims had their financial account numbers compromised (Javelin Strategy and Research, 2009).
• More than 35 million data records were compromised in corporate and government data breaches in 2008 (ITRC).
• 59% of new account fraud that occurred in 2008 involved opening up a new credit card and store-branded credit card accounts (Javelin Strategy and Research, 2009).