Identity Theft Statistics

U.S. identity theft rose 23% in 2008 to nearly 10 million cases reported cases

More than 36 million Americans have been victims of identity theft in the last four years.

• Identity theft was the top complaint to the FTC nine years in a row, making up 26% of all complaints.²
• Identity theft victims spend, on average, 116 hours repairing the damage.³
• It is estimated that 13 percent of all victims reported a family member or relative as the person responsible for misusing their personal information. ¹
• 20 percent of identity theft victim information was misused through credit card fraud. ²
• The second-highest incidence of identity theft occurred through government documents/benefits fraud, at 15% of all complaints. ²
• Identity theft through tax fraud has risen 6% since 2006. ²
• 24 percent of identity theft victims were a part of Generation Y (ages 20-29).²
• The monies recovered by individual victims of identity theft dropped from 87% in 2005 to 61% in 2006.⁴
• Lost or stolen laptops containing sensitive data can cost over $115,000 to a company in recovery efforts if a data breach goes undiscovered for at least a week.⁵
• Data breaches increased 47% between 2007 and 2008, reaching 656 breaches in 2008 alone.⁶
• Arizona has the highest identity theft rate per capita, followed by California and Florida. ²