Every 79 seconds, a thief steals someone's identity, opens accounts in the victim's name.
A CBS News study taken in 2001 revealed that identity theft was occurring with unbelievable frequency.
Victims can spend upwards of 500 hours on average recovering from this crime, often over a period of years. Three years ago the average was 175 hours of time.
Based on 500 hours times the indicated victim wages, this equals nearly $13,500 in lost potential or realized income—making even simple identity theft cases a devastating and expensive crime.
Identity theft increased 87% between 2001 and 2002.
On the heels of the CBS study above, a study by Gartner Group reveal that identity theft incidents continued to accelerate.
Identity theft increased by 79% between 2002 and 2003
In the latest Gartner Group study, taken in July 2003, the prominent think tank found that there was a 79 percent increase in identity theft in the past year alone.
85 percent of all identity theft victims find out about the crime only when they are denied credit or employment, contacted by the police, or have to deal with collection agencies, credit cards, and bills.
Research by Harris Interactive and Gartner in the summer of 2003 found that the overwhelming majority of consumers who become victims of identity theft only realize months after the crime has occurred.
The average arrest rate for identity theft is under 5% of all reported cases by victims.
Due to various factors, identity theft is one of the least convicted crimes in America. The circumstances are often too complicated to track down.
Identity theft affects all parts of the country, below are listed the top 10 worst states for identity theft per capita.
Top Ten Worst States for identity theft
Source: ID Theft Data Clearinghouse
Rank |
Victim State |
Victims Per 100,000 |
# of Victims |
1 |
Arizona |
142.5 |
8186 |
2 |
Nevada |
125.7 |
2935 |
3 |
California |
122.1 |
43839 |
4 |
Texas |
117.6 |
26454 |
5 |
Colorado |
95.8 |
4409 |
6 |
Florida |
92.3 |
16,062 |
7 |
New York |
92 |
17,680 |
8 |
Washington |
91.1 |
5,654 |
9 |
Oregon |
87.8 |
3,156 |
10 |
Illinois |
87.6 |
11,138 |
Identity Theft Victims by Age
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