SecurityCurve » Identity Theft

Identity Theft Victims Hit 3%

Ed — Tue, 11 Apr 2006 19:28:16 +0000

According to Security Focus, 3.1 percent of American households have now been victims of identity theft as per the National Crime Victimization Survey. To put this in perspective, here are some other things that are 3 percent:

- Percent of Americans leading a healthy lifestyle
- Percent of Americans with a gambling addiction
- Percent of Americans who read blogs on a regular basis
- Percent of Americans with a high school education in 1900
- Percent of Americans who believe we went to war in Iraq to free the Iraqi people
- Percent of Americans who are Atheists
- Percent of Americans who practice Herbal Healing
- Percent of Americans who are underweight

That ol’-time religion gets upgraded

Ed — Mon, 06 Feb 2006 16:53:33 +0000

You know that something is deeply entrenched in society’s collective vocabulary when you see it in on a sign outside a church, right? That’s my assertion, anyway. To prove that identity theft is here (and here to stay), the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod waxes philisophical about identity theft.

Note that J3sus pHreakers and the Christian Hacker Association had nothing to do with it.

“But WOE unto those who do not accept the Good News, or worse, who download it but fail to register it, thus depriving hardworking evangelists of their deserved credits. And the Filesharers shall be found by the Managers of Digital Righteousness and be smoten by them

ID theft hits 10m Americans a year

Diana — Mon, 08 Sep 2003 13:27:03 +0000

The above number is from a Register article. The FTC contracted with Synovate, a VA survey company, to compile the latest ID Theft numbers. The actual report, which can be found at the FTC ID Theft site, says that 1.5% of respondents reported that their identity had been “misused to open new credit accounts, take out new loans, or engage in other types of fraud.” Which suggests 3.25m Americans were affected by this type of fraud last year.

Interestingly, the methodology of the report says that information was gathered by a Telenation RDD (Random Digit Dialing) telephone survey. I wouldn’t talk about ID Theft with a random caller. And I wonder about the validity of the numbers. There’s a good chance that in reality the fraud numbers are higher. If you’ve been a recent victim of ID Theft, are you going to report that to a random caller?

MS, eBay, Amazon et al join ID theft busters

Diana — Wed, 03 Sep 2003 13:02:21 +0000

“Microsoft Corp, eBay, Amazon.com and Visa are among founder members of the Coalition on Online Identity Theft, which is dedicated to fighting the growing menace of ID theft. Analysts estimate ID theft cost US lenders alone at least $1 billion last year.”

The ITAA (Information Technology Association of America) will be acting as Secretariat for the ID Theft coalition. The official ITAA press release can be found here: http://www.itaa.org/news/pr/PressRelease.cfm?ReleaseID=1062528130.