Just How Bad is the Fraud Problem?

Fraud is a real problem in the U.S. today. It's not a small problem that affects only a few people. Here are some staggering statistics:

In 2015, 13.1 million people were victims of identity fraud.
In the past six years, identity thieves have stolen $112 billion from their victims.
In 2015, the number of identity fraud victims was at its second highest in the last six years.
Fraudsters have stolen $112 billion in the past six years - this means a loss of $35,600 every minute.
Non-card fraud resulted in losses of $5 billion to consumers, merchants and financial institutions
Credit cards remain the most frequent targets of account takeovers

Fraud Demographics

Consumer responses to fraud are dependent on age:

18-to-24 year-olds were the most likely to change their payment behavior by switching their bank or credit card provider.
24-to-35 year-olds had the highest fraud incidence and are the least likely to take preventative measures.
65+ year-old fraud victims reduced their online activities and subscribed to fraud prevention services.
Consumers earning $150,000 or more have the highest incidence of identity fraud.
24% of individuals who earn $25,000 - $35,000 a year reported fraud had a “severe effect” on their lives.

Detecting Fraud

It takes too long for most people to detect identity fraud and shut it down:

51 days is the average amount of time fraudsters are misusing consumers’ information.
17 days is the average amount of time it takes to stop the crime from occurring after it has been detected.

How is fraud detected?

Data Breach Epidemic

Data Breach Statistics:

5.4 million per incident at $188 per record
U.S. ranks second worldwide for the greatest number of exposed or compromised records at 28,765 records.
Data breaches hit an all-time high in 2014, bringing the number of individual records exposed since to 2005 to over 675 million.
80 days to detect, 123 days to resolve.

Top 3 reasons for the incidence of a data breach:

41% Malicious or criminal attached
33% Human factor
26% System glitch

Data Breaches lead to increased incidences of identity fraud:

1 in 3 breach victims in 2013 also became a fraud victim in the same year.
66% of identity fraud victims received a data breach notification.
Among consumers who had their credit and/or debit card breached, 39% suffered identity fraud in 2013.
Among consumers who had their SSN breached, 16% suffered identity fraud in 2013.

Number of Data Breaches and Records Exposed, 2006-2016

What Do Criminals Get from a Data Breach?

What Do Criminals Do with the Information They've Stolen?

In an upcoming blog post, we'll talk about things you can do to keep your loved ones safe or to help them recover from identity theft or a data breach.

Questions? Kimbrough Law may be able to help. Just give us a call at 706.850.6910.

Source: Business Credit Reports