Identity theft has long been one of the most dangerous and most personal forms of crime. Identity Theft Resource Center recently conducted a new study regarding identity theft. According to their figures, the most widespread use of identity theft nowadays is opening a new credit card line using a stolen identity. The study says that around two thirds of victims of identity theft are affected by credit card fraud.
This is a very disturbing trend, considering the state of the economy and how little a credit card consumer can afford to have their credit at risk in the current economic climate. According to the study, the number of victims of fraudulent charges increased by 39% in 2008. In 2007, the figures were at just 15%.
The major protection for credit card fraud should be data security. Unfortunately, consumer data is not as secure as consumers would want it to be. Identity Theft Resource Center maintains a Breach List report and, according to their 2009 report, there have been 230 breaches as of May 26, 2009. These 230 breaches resulted in the exposure of 11,615,507 records.
Recovering from being victimized by credit card fraud can be very costly in terms of time and money. When an existing account has been compromised, the cardholder can spend an average of $739 for expenses such as travel, police reports, photocopying, and the like. When a victim's stolen identity is used to create a new credit account, the cost can be much higher, averaging at $951. The cost in terms of time is also formidable. Recovering an affected existing account can take an average of 58 hours. A fraudulent new account can take 165 hours to correct.
Identity theft is such a serious and devastating crime that many people are taking interest in it, not the least of which are consumers. Because information about identity theft and its prevention have been spreading fast, detection of identity theft incidents has gone up.
Credit cardholders are beginning to be very vigilant in keeping an eye on the details of their monthly bills and statements. As a result, a majority of victims of credit card fraud has been able to detect that they have been victimized before major damages have been done. Only a third of the total number of victims found out that they have been victimized only after they got a call from a collection agency or they had a denial of credit. When it goes that far, it usually means that major damage has already been done.