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Did You Know? Facts and Stats about Identity Theft.
Consumer Sentinel, the complaint database developed and maintained by the Federal Trade Commission, compiled “Consumer Fraud and Identity Theft Complaint Data” from January through December 2009. Here are some of the key findings:
• Credit card fraud (17%) was the most common form of reported identity theft, followed by government documents/benefits fraud (16%), phone or utilities fraud (15%), and employment fraud (13%). Other significant categories of identity theft reported by victims were bank fraud (10%) and loan fraud (4%).
• Identity theft-related credit card fraud decreased by 6 percentage points since calendar year 2007, declining 3 percentage points each year. Additionally, overall CSN identity theft complaints declined 5 percentage points from calendar year 2008.
• Forty-two percent of identity theft complainants reported wheth- er they contacted law enforcement. Of those victims, 72% noti- fied a police department. Sixty-two percent indicated a report was taken.
• Florida is the state with the highest per capita rate of reported identity theft complaints, followed by Arizona and Texas.
• In conjunction with the 2010 report, the Commission has released a video showing consumers how to file a complaint and examples of what they might file a complaint about. This video is available for viewing at www.FTC.gov/video under “Scam Watch.” For more information about the Consumer Sentinel Network, visit www.FTC.gov/sentinel.
Source data from Consumer Sentinel and the Identity Theft Data Clearinghouse. Consumer Fraud and Identity Theft Complaint Data, January-December 2009, Federal Trade Commission, February 2010.
Stay Alert for Identity Theft 63