FEBRUARY 2005

New Study Says Most ID Theft Is Offline

A new study commissioned by the Better Business Bureau (BBB) finds that most ID theft has nothing to do with online e-commerce transactions or Internet usage. Javelin Strategy and Research conducted the study. Over two thirds (68.2%) of identity fraud in 2004 was committed with information obtained offline. The most common source of information was a lost or stolen checkbook. Identity fraud committed using information obtained online constituted only 11.6% of all ID fraud cases. Among ID fraud cases in which the perpetrators identity is known, about half were committed by someone known by the victim.

The study was based on 4,000 telephone interviews with consumers during September and October of 2004. Consumers were asked about their experiences during the 12 months leading up to the survey date. Based on survey results, the report estimates that 9.3 million U.S. adults were victims of identity theft during 2003-2004, an estimate similar to but somewhat lower than the Federal Trade Commission's estimate of 10.1 million victims as reported in its 2003 Identity Theft Survey Report. The BBB survey was underwritten by Visa USA, CheckFree Corp. and Wells Fargo.

Javelin's founder, James Van Dyke, told the Wall Street Journal, "It's very clear from the data that identity fraud is more prevalent from offline than through online sources. All of the attention that is being focused on computer crime is really an overstatement." The survey report concludes that consumers can help prevent theft by increased monitoring of their accounts online. Consumers in the survey who did so detected identity crime earlier and, on average, lost $551 per incident as compared to average losses of $4,543 for those consumers who detected the crime in other ways.