2013 Identity Fraud Report Shows Dollar Amount Stolen Increased to Three Year High of 21 Billion

The number of identity fraud incidents increased by one million more consumers over the past year and the dollar amount stolen increased to a three-year high of $21 billion, according to the ‘2013 IDENTITY FRAUD REPORT: Data Breaches Becoming a Treasure Trove for Fraudsters’ from Javelin Strategy & Research. The report also explored the relationship between the compromise of personal information in a data breach and fraud incidence and found that nearly 1 in 4 data breach notification recipients became a victim of identity fraud. For more information, visit https://www.javelinstrategy.com/brochure/276.

Identity fraud increased for the second consecutive year in 2012 driven by dramatic jumps in new account fraud (NAF) and account takeover fraud (ATF) while affecting 5.26 percent of U.S. adults. The data for the 2013 Identify Fraud Report was gathered by a survey of 5,249 U.S. adults that included 857 consumers who were fraud victims in the past six years. Other key findings include:

• The number of identity fraud incidents increased by one million more consumers over the past year, and the dollar amount stolen increased to $21 billion, a three-year high, which equates to 1 incident of identity fraud every 3 seconds.
• Almost 1 in 4 consumers that received a data breach letter became a victim of identity fraud, which is the highest rate since 2010. The study found consumers who had their Social Security number compromised in a data breach were 5 times more likely to be a fraud victim than an average consumer.
• Consumer information was misused for an average of 48 days in 2012, down from 55 days in 2011 and 95 days in 2010. More than 50 percent of victims were actively detecting fraud using financial alerts, credit monitoring or identity protection services and by monitoring their accounts.
• Fraud victims are more selective where they shop after an incident, and small businesses were the most dramatically impacted. The study found that 15 percent of all fraud victims decided to change behaviors and avoid smaller online merchants.

Javelin’s 2013 Identity Fraud Report provides a comprehensive analysis of fraud trends in the context of a changing technological and regulatory environment in order to inform consumers, financial institutions, and businesses on the most effective means of fraud prevention, detection, and resolution. For ESR News blogs about identity theft, visit https://www.esrcheck.com/wordpress/tag/identity-theft/.

Employment Screening Resources (ESR) – ‘The Background Check Authority’ – is a nationwide background screening provider accredited by The National Association of Professional Background Screeners (NAPBS®). For information about pre-employment background checks, visit https://www.esrcheck.com, call Toll Free 888.999.4474, or email [email protected].

Source: https://www.javelinstrategy.com/brochure/276

About Employment Screening Resources (ESR):

Founded by safe hiring expert Attorney Les Rosen in 1997, Employment Screening Resources (ESR) – ‘The Background Check Authority^SM’– provides accurate and actionable information that empowers employers to make informed hiring decisions for the benefit of their organizations, employees, and the public. CEO Rosen literally wrote the book on background checks with “The Safe Hiring Manual” and ESR is accredited by The National Association of Professional Background Screeners (NAPBS), a distinction held by a small percent of screening firms. Employers choosing ESR know they have selected an agency meeting the highest industry standards. To learn more about ESR, visit https://www.esrcheck.com or call toll free 888.999.4474.

About ESR News:

The Employment Screening Resources (ESR) News blog – ESR News – provides employment screening information for employers, recruiters, and jobseekers on a variety of topics including credit reports, criminal records, data privacy, discrimination, E-Verify, jobs reports, legal updates, negligent hiring, workplace violence, and use of search engines and social network sites for background checks. For more information about ESR News or to send comments or questions, please email ESR News Editor Thomas Ahearn at [email protected]. To subscribe to the ESR News Blog Feed, visit https://www.esrcheck.com/wordpress/feed/. To subscribe to the complimentary ESRcheck Report monthly newsletter, please visit https://www.esrcheck.com/Newsletter/.