Hours after meeting with Verisign yesterday at DEMO 07 to discuss that company’s major anti-identity theft initiative comes news from a trio of leading financial firms that this ongoing crisis of consumer confidence — the bane of retailers both online and off — is already well under control, with the number of victims down 12% last year over 2005.
Pop the corks? … Well, there’s every reason to hope that this report reflects an emerging new reality … as well as every reason to remain skeptical. The problem with vendor-sponsored surveys of this nature, of course, is that they make it difficult to overlook the obvious self-interest of the parties involved. The e-commerce world as a whole has been in full panic mode over the public’s increasing wariness about doing business online. All would hail anything that might lessen that unease.So this poll offers such hope, grain of salt and all. The 2007 Identity Fraud Survey Report paid for by Visa, Wells Fargo and CheckFree contends that:
— Identity fraud falling about 12 percent over year over year. Although the report trumpets that this translates into a total fraud reduction of $6.4 billion, it also notes that such fraud is still costing the industry and consumers an astounding $49.3 billion annually.
— Whereas 1.5% of respondents reported having fraudulent accounts opened in their name in 2005, that number plummeted to only 1% this time around. Amounts stolen and time spent resolving cases of fraud are also reported down.
— Young adults, no surprise, have the greatest chance of being victimized because they fail to take rudimentary precautions.
— Poorest Americans, those earning less than $15,000 a year, are most likely to be targeted and face the greatest difficulties in putting their affairs back in order.
The survey involved canvassing 5,000 consumers via telephone, according to the companies.
The survey company plans to hold a press conference later today to discuss the results.
