Identity theft hit an estimated 3.6 million households — approximately three
percent — during a six-month period in 2004,
according to the Justice Department’s Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS), released Thursday.
The estimated loss during the six-month period was about $3.2 billion,
including losses that may have been reimbursed by credit-card companies,
insurance companies or other financial institutions.
Identity theft questions were added to the BJS crime survey in July 2004, and
Thursday’s data represents the first six months of data available for
analysis. Annual prevalence estimates will be published when data are
available for 2005.
The survey questions were asked of one household member, who provided
information about other property crimes the entire household may have
suffered. The survey did not obtain information on which household members
were victims.
Forty-eight percent of the respondents experienced unauthorized use of
credit cards while 25 percent had other accounts, such as banking accounts
used without permission.
Another 15 percent experienced the misuse of
personal information and 12 percent experienced multiple types of theft at
the same time.
Households headed by young people (18 to 24 years old), those in urban or
suburban areas and those with incomes of $75,000 or more were the most
likely to experience identity theft. Victimization did not differ by race
or ethnicity.
About one-third of households discovered the loss by noticing missing money
or unfamiliar charges on an account. About one-quarter were contacted by a
credit bureau.
Of the victimized households, one-third experienced one or more problems
caused by the identity theft. The most common problems: being contacted by
a debt collector (34 percent) and problems with bank accounts (31 percent)
and credit cards (26 percent).
About one in five households spent at least one month resolving their
problems. One-third said the problems were resolved in one day. At the
time of the survey, about one-sixth said the misuse was still causing
problems.
