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Identity theft statistics from Dept. of Justice

Posted on Jul 4, 2006 by Tom Fragala

In April 2006, the U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics released identity theft victim data from 2004 (yes, 2004). The findings are from interviews conducted from July-December 2004 as part of the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS).

Here’s some key data points that I pulled out from the report (please read the caveats I outline further down).

• In the second half of 2004, 3.6 million households found that at least one member was a victim of identity theft in the previous six months (3.1% of all households in the U.S.)
• Credit card theft was the most common response, 48% of victimized households.
• 1 in 4 victimized households discovered the victimization via contact by a credit bureau.
• Estimated losses by victimized households was $3.2 billion.

Several important points that must be understood so the data is not misinterpreted.

• The survey was not focused on identity theft; instead, ten ID theft questions were added to the existing NCVS.
• This is not annual data; those surveyed were asked about ID theft episodes in the previous six months.
• Note the use of the term “households.” The survey does not ask how many individual victims, but if anyone in the household was a victim. It does also not identify how many people are in the household.
• Before throwing around stats on an ID theft survey, you must understand the definition of “identity theft” that is used. In this survey, it is existing credit card fraud, other account fraud (checking, utility, telephone, etc), and use of personal data to open new accounts or commit a crime.
• If you’re trying to use the data to determine the number of victims, don’t take 3.6 million times two and conclude 7.2 million victims in 2004. That is not accurate.