The same report offers identity theft statistics on the most common types of identity theft, pointing out that credit card fraud
Other identity theft statistics from spendonlife.com show that in 2008, there were 10 million victims of identity theft in America. Although it is unlikely that identity theft would not be followed by identity fraud it does not mean that these individuals suffered from identity theft fraud. To be clear, identity theft is the simple act of stealing information necessary to perpetrate identity fraud.
Identity fraud is the act of pretending to be another person in a significant fashion. Additional statistics include the fact that, 1 in every 10 American consumers had suffered from some form of identity theft in 2009. Households with a greater overall income are significantly more likely to experience identity theft fraud. Furthermore, 7% of identity theft victims were not victimized for economic, monetary identity theft. Their information was instead used for medical identity theft fraud.
The identity theft statistics on recovery are not particularly heartening, either. The highest amount of time recorded to correct the damage from an identity theft attack is 5,840 hours, which spendonlife.com interprets as "the equivalent of working a full-time job for two years." The average amount of time is significantly less, of course, but it is still 330 hours, which is no small amount of time. The costs for identity theft fraud are significant, as well. The average incident will cost the victim between $851 and $1,378 out-of-pocket simply to fix the problem.
Perhaps the eeriest identity theft statistics of all are those concerning the perpetrators. Of all the victims of identity theft fraud, 43% knew the perpetrator. This meshes with the fact that most identity theft fraud is still done via physical means. Someone who knows the victim is much more able to steal these significant physical documents.
