Facts and Statistics About Identity Theft

• Identity theft cost U.S. businesses and consumers $45 billion in 2007.
• Over 8 million Americans reported being victimized last year.
• ID theft has become America’s #1 white-collar crime.
• Identity theft can be punishable with up to thirty years in federal prison.
• The average fraud amount is $6,278 per victim, with an out-of-pocket expense of over $400 to consumers, and takes an average of 25 hours to resolve.
• The top states for victims per capita are: New York, California, Arizona, Nevada, and Texas.
• Over half of identity theft victims had their current credit cards taken over by identity theft criminals.
• Nearly 4% of the American population falls victim to ID theft every year.
• The most common way identity theft happens is through lost or stolen wallets, checkbooks, and credit cards.
• It is believed that 100,000 cases go unreported each year.
• Metropolitan areas with the highest rates of consumer fraud were Washington DC, Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, Florida and Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, Washington.
• The average dollar amount fraudulently charged or stolen in each identity theft case is approximately $92,893.
• On average, an identity theft victim recovers less then half of the monetary losses incurred.