Characteristics Of Identity Theft

751 Words2 Pages

Identity Theft
Per the National Crime Victim Survey, the meaning of identity theft has three main types of occurrences in order for it to be considered identity theft. Those include “unauthorized use or attempted use of an existing account, unauthorized use or attempted use of personal information to open an account, and the misuse of personal information for fraudulent purpose.” (Victims of Identity Theft, 2014)
Victims of Identity Theft, 2014
When the survey was taken in 2014, it was a result of finding out that 17.6 million Americans, which is about 7 % of United States residents 16 years or older, had fallen victim to identity theft. Most of the victims, about 86%, had experienced theft from their credit card of bank account. Another …show more content…

With that, Caucasians had the higher identity theft rate at 8%. African Americans came in at 5%, other races 6% and Hispanics at 5%. Those that fell into the age range of 25 years old to 64 years old had the highest identity theft rate at 8%. Also, those that had an annual income at $75,000 or more had the highest rate at 11% which was compared to those at a lower income bracket (Victims of Identity Theft, 2014). Statically, Caucasians make more annually than any other minority therefore, that statistic makes sense that they would have a higher identity theft rate. Also, persons with a higher income will be subject to identity theft because who would want to steal from someone with no money? The one that was interesting was that women had their identity stolen more than more seeing that men are known to make more but it’s possible that they “hide” or are more careful with their personal information (Victims of Identity Theft, 2014).
Loss of …show more content…

Those who had their personal information taken or a new account opened seemed to suffered a bigger out of pocket loss versus those who had a pre-existing credit card or bank account misused. Nearly 14% had some kind of out of pocket expense that was one dollar or more. Of those people, approximately half of them had losses of less than one hundred dollars and about 14% had a loss of more than one thousand dollars (Victims of Identity Theft, 2014).

Resolution When it was time to resolve their issues with identity theft, approximately 52% were able to fix their problems with 24 hours or less. For a handful of victims it took more than a month. When it came to those, whose existing accounts were compromised, their banks had it resolved also, within a day. Less than 10 % of those victims reported the crime to the authorities. Those that took more time to fix their problem ended up having more problems related to their occupation and their personal relationships. They also suffered from emotional stress versus those you had a resolution more quickly (Victims of Identity Theft, 2014).

Open Document