The Statistics of Identity Theft

---

Statistics reported on identity theft vary depending on the agency gathering the data. Following, we have culled information from the National Foundation for Credit Counseling, the Federal Trade Commission, the Better Business Bureau, and the Identity Theft Resource Center.

• 8.4 million Americans fell victim to identity theft fraud in 2007.
• Identity theft has been the top consumer complaint to the FTC for the past five years in a row.
• The average victim spends an average of 600 hours recovering from Identity Theft.
• It is estimated that victims of Identity Theft lose an average of $5720 per Identity Theft incident and spend an average of $1400 repairing damage to their good name and credit record.
• In 26 percent of all cases, the victim knew who had misused their personal information.
• It is estimated that 9 percent of all victims reported a family member or relative as the person responsible for misusing their personal information.
• For 39 percent of victims, it took more than seven months to discover that their identity had been compromised.
• 29 percent of identity theft complaints were a part of Generation Y (ages 18-29).
• 25 percent of identity theft victim information was misused through credit card fraud.
• More than 30 million Americans have been victims of identity theft in the last five years.
• Lost or stolen laptops remain the top sources for breaches in corporate information, accounting for 45 percent of all the incidents studied.
• The monies recovered by individual victims of identity theft dropped from 80% in 2004 to 54% in 2006
• The 35-44 demographic age group averages highest dollar amount as victims of fraud ($9,435).
• Generation X (ages 25-34) has the highest victimization rate for identity fraud at 5.4 percent.