* The 2005 Identity Fraud Survey Report
We all know that identity theft is a major problem. While I don’t think it’s as widespread as the general media would lead us to believe (see “What is identity theft?” link below) it’s still troubling. It’s very troubling to those of us in the area of electronic identity management because – at least in the public’s mind – identity theft is linked with online activity.
So it’s with a great deal of pleasure that I point out to you a recent study commissioned by the Better Business Bureau called “The 2005 Identity Fraud Survey Report.” The study was conducted by Javelin Strategy and is available at https://www.javelinstrategy.com/reports/documents/2005_Javelin_Strategy_Identity_Fraud_Survey_Complimentary_Report.pdf (caution, it’s an Acrobat PDF).
The press release announcing the report is headlined “New Research Shows That Identity Theft Is More Prevalent Offline with Paper than Online.” One result that came as a big surprise to me was that in all instances where the perpetrator was positively identified, half of all identity fraud was committed by a friend, family member, relative, neighbor or in-home employee – someone known by the victim. Not some faceless hacker.
In a conclusion that may give hope to those who still fear using the Internet to do identity transactions (purchases, bill paying, registrations, etc.), the survey found that the most frequently reported source of information used to commit fraud was a lost or stolen wallet or checkbook. Real paper and real plastic were the problems, as the survey found that computer crimes accounted for just 11.6% of all known-cause instances of identity fraud.
Further adding to the pain of those who shun using computers to access financial data, the survey found that those victims who actively monitored their accounts electronically suffered a lose of $551 on average while those who used paper-based statements to monitor financial activity averaged $4,543 in losses.
Get this study. Read it, copy it, distribute it and call it to the attention of anyone else in a position to publicize it. Heaven knows we have enough problems in the identity management world without having to continually defend ourselves from the urban legends surrounding identity theft.
