| Identity theft or fraud is the intentional appropriation for | | | | during 1990s and studies have showed that from 2001 |
| persona information of a person to impersonate them | | | | to 2002 there was nearly 12 to 20 percent increase in |
| in a legal sense. Stealing identity of ape son enables | | | | the crime while from 2002 to 2003 the figure climbed |
| thief to make a frightening number of personal and | | | | up to nearly 80 percent. The Better Business Bureau |
| financial transactions but not in their own name which | | | | conducted survey during 2006 which showed a |
| leaves the victim responsible for almost everything that | | | | decrease compared to previous figures. |
| might happen due to your identity theft. | | | | However the identity theft statistics showed in Texas |
| However the FTC or Federal Trade Commission has | | | | was along was nearly 700 percent increase in the |
| kept a record of identity theft and surprisingly they also | | | | cases during 2004 to 2005. According to the Better |
| have the number of incidents being reported each | | | | Business Bureau statistics it reported that in just six |
| year. Therefore the identity theft statistics taken | | | | moths during 2004 there were nearly 3.5 million |
| recently has reveled that id theft has affected as | | | | households affected by this crime. The statistics have |
| many as 10 million people in US every year. Based on | | | | always shown an increase since then with more |
| the identity theft statistics of FTC the losses to | | | | number of people affected every year. |
| financial and business organizations have totaled | | | | Current Statistics |
| around 53 billion dollar in a year. | | | | In the year 2007, Consumer Sentinel which is a FTC |
| Earlier statistics | | | | database had registered above 780,000 complaints of |
| These statistics for id theft also reveal that most | | | | identity theft and fraud crimes. The data was |
| common types of identity thefts are communications | | | | generated from different law enforcement agencies |
| services fraud like utility services account for your | | | | which are compiled by FTC. However the number of |
| information or opening a cell phone, credit card frauds | | | | complaints during 2008 sent tot eh Consumer Sentinel |
| and even loan and bank frauds. | | | | database was above 1.2 million of cases from |
| The primary cause of identity theft for several years | | | | different reporting agencies. |
| has been the low tech and good old fashioned analog | | | | This simply means that it showed a 50 percent |
| crime where the impersonators searching through | | | | increase in the overall identity theft cases compared to |
| mailboxes, searching the garbage for any credit card | | | | 2007 and 2008 data. The data for 2009 is however |
| receipts or discarded bank statements and snatching | | | | unavailable yet, but it has been predicted that there |
| purses. However the rapid advancement in technology | | | | would be another shocking increase in the identity theft |
| has actually seen an outbreak of sophisticated phishing | | | | statistics of the year. This is simply because of the |
| scams. The identity theft statistics today expose these | | | | economic adversity such as current recession that |
| scams as the most dangerous of theft which uses | | | | generally corresponds to the increase in crime rate |
| both technical subterfuge and social engineering. | | | | which also includes id theft in huge. |
| Identity theft had been first mentioned in the literature | | | | |