According to a recent study conducted by Javelin Strategy and Research, 11.1 million adults were victims of identity theft in 2009.This represents a 12% increase from that of 2008 and up 37% from 2007.
“The odds have never been higher for becoming a fraud victim,” said James Van Dyke, the President and founder of Javelin. “It’s an easy crime to perpetrate, a crime that’s almost impossible to catch when
done in a sophisticated manner and a crime in which enforcement is very limited.” Van Dyke’s assessment lines up with a survey conducted by Gartner, a leading IT and research company, which show that only 1 out of 700 identity thieves are prosecuted.
According to Javelin, the number of fraudulent new credit card accounts increased from 33% in 2008 to 39% of all identity fraud victims in 2009. Fraud from existing credit card accounts rose 75%.
New online accounts which were opened falsely, more than doubled from that of 2008. The study also found that 29% of victims said new cellular phone accounts were opened deceptively.
One of the factors that is fueling the identity theft epidemic is the data breach.In 2009, the ITRC recorded 498 data breaches.Out of those data breaches, approximately 1% of the organizations reported they had either encryption or strong security features protecting the data.
There have already been 52 documented data breaches this year which has exposed over 3.5 million records. According to a recent report from the Identity Theft Resource Center, a non-profit group.The report can be accessed at http://www.idtheftcenter.org/ITRC%20Breach%Stats%20Report%2010.pdf
It is more imperative than ever that businesses and any other entities that deal with personal information put safeguards in place to protect that information.
For further information on identity theft and securing your personal
information, refer to:
Http://www.FTC.gov
Http://www.greatworkplan.com/betterlife4u
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