The number of identity theft cases has been increasing to this day. In fact, according to statistics, the Federal Trade Commission reported that for 4 continuous years, this crime has been on the top of the list of the consumer complains.
It has been assumed that this problem mounted to over 42 percent of the complaints that has lodged in the FTC Consumer Database in the year 2004 and has increased for about 40 percent in the year 2002.
According to the FTC statistics, there are approximately 10 million consumers, mostly American have discovered that their personal information have been intentionally used to open up a fraudulent bank account, utility accounts and credit card.
The worst is that their personal information have been wrongfully used to commit serious crimes with their names.In the FTC identity theft statistics, there had been more than 50 percent of the theft victims of accounts such as credit cards and other fraud accounts.
Mostly, new credit cards have been used for fraud activities. This happens when a thief opens up new accounts using other people names. This theft statistics have estimated that this have victimized over 3.23 million people in the world. this big number is continuously increasing in number.
Statistics have shown that it has cost nearly $53 billion for both existing and new accounts. This is a large number includes individual and business victims in a year. No wonder why this big number increases every year and is very hard to cease.
To be specific, this theft statistics have shown that 47.5 billion people have been victims of identity theft. The individual victims are counted to have $500 per victim in a year.
According to the news, most Americans have spent about 300 million hours in resolving the arising issue which is related to identity crime cases. It has been estimated that in every 30 to 60 hours a victim handles various matters, which are related to cases of stolen identity which includes creating an account or using existing accounts.
These problems have proven that the people who have been victimized by identity theft know the thieves who have stolen their precious and unique names and identity. To avoid this from happening, you should not share important information so that other people cannot access your accounts in any way. Make sure that the people you share important information with can be trusted.
People whom you think cannot do this crime to you are the ones who have the strong will to do it. Make sure that they will not have any idea on how to restore such important information. Someone very close to you can be a suspect. Anyone around you can be suspect and they choose no one so you need to be very careful.
Statistics have shown that it starts in the workplace. You might not know it but they could be your officemates, co-worker, employee that you are patronizing.
Most identities of employees have been stolen because of their connections to companies that are not handled carefully. Sometimes, your boss can even be the suspect. He can have access to the personal information, which he can retrieve upon application.
This crime have shown that in the year 2004, the complaints have been up for about 15 percent which was from the year 2003.
In the last five years, it has been reported by the Identity Theft Statistics that more than 25 million people have been victims of the case. It is no wonder that until now, the number of cases is still extremely high and rising. Most Americans have experienced identity theft.
Identity theft was on the top of the complaints in the year 2004 and is still getting higher. The identity theft victims naturally spend 175 hours to use for their personal time and about $800 just to clear their names and restore their credit history.
The Federal Trade Commission have estimated that a victim will spend 14-16 months of clearing their names in cases of identity theft. So it is important that you keep your accounts safe because if you are a victim, you cannot fix your credit easily and it will take too long.
