New Survey Reveals 28% of Identity Theft Victims know Theft Source
Posted on Apr 6, 2009 10:59am PDT
According to a new survey released by the Identity Theft Assistance Center (ITAC), 28% of
identity theft victims know how their personal information was stolen, while 72% were clueless after becoming victims.
The ITAC conducted the survey by interviewing more than 1,500 identity theft victims, which the organization had helped after the victims had their identities compromised. The survey disclosed that of the 28% of people that knew the source of theft. 26.5% said that their identities were stolen by friends, relatives and in-home employees who had access to their personal information. Over 21% of the victims had their identities compromised over the computer, followed closely by stolen purses, wallets, checkbooks. The survey also revealed that 15% of identity theft crimes resulted from stolen credit card accounts. Compromised data accounted for only 4.7% of reported identity theft cases.
Anne Wallace, the ITAC President, said that people should try to keep their personal and financial data secure by monitoring their accounts online and by installing virus and security software on their computers. While many people have these types of software, many have versions that are outdated, which can lead to identity theft.
"Technology allows criminals to act anonymously to steal information off your computer with key logging programs, or to create new identities using bits of information from public records," said Michael Stanfield, chairman and CEO of Intersections Inc. He claims that technology has allowed criminals access to peoples' personal information and has led to the criminals compromising innocent victims' identities.
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