Javelin’s 2010 Identity Fraud Survey Report: Consumer Version provides tips and recommendations for consumers to help prevent, detect and resolve identity fraud. This study is designed to help consumers lower their risk of identity fraud by equipping them with the tools and resources necessary to detect and resolve this crime.
The key points detailed in this report are as follows:
True identity theft is the exposure of personal information and typically happens when your personal information is taken by another individual without your explicit permission. Identity fraud is the actual misuse of information for financial gain and occurs when criminals take illegally obtained personal information and make fraudulent purchases or withdrawals, create false accounts or modify existing ones, and/or attempt to obtain services such as employment or health care.
The number of fraud victims rose for the second year in a row.
More than 11 million adult consumers became victims of identity fraud in 2009, up from nearly 10 million in 2008.
Victims’ out-of-pocket costs and the time required to resolve fraud have decreased.
Banks have stepped up their efforts in counteracting fraud and minimizing the cost and inconvenience suffered by consumers. Most victims don’t experience any out-of-pocket costs, but those who did suffered an average cost of $373. The average time to resolve the fraud for these victims was 21 hours. Due to the zero-liability fraud protection offered by most banks and credit card companies, most victims will only have to pay out-of-pocket expenses to cover their time in resolving fraud, not for reimbursing fraudulent charges.
Most Common Methods of Fraud
Once criminals have stolen data, the most common methods they use to commit identity fraud are through making in-store and online purchases. The chart above shows that both in-person and online purchases account for more than four in 10 cases of fraud. Because online purchases require only a credit or debit card number, this method of fraud is increasingly favored by criminals. Additionally, slightly more than 20% of victims of identity fraud had their information used to make phone or mail-order catalog purchases.
A five-step safety plan to prevent, detect and / or resolve identity frauds:
1. Prevent Criminal Access by Protecting your Paper Documents
Keep sensitive information from prying eyes. Request electronic statements, use direct deposit, and don’t put checks in an unlocked mailbox. When your Social Security number is requested as an identifier in paper documents, ask if you can provide alternate information. At home or work, secure your personal and financial records in a locked storage device—last year, at least 13% of all identity crimes were committed by someone previously known to the victim. Shred any sensitive paper documents.
2. Prevent High‐Tech Criminal Access
* Install anti‐virus software on your computer and keep it updated along with your applications and operating system.
* Secure your electronic personal and financial records on your computer behind a password.
* Never respond to requests for personal or account information online (or over the phone). Watch out for convincing imitations of banks, card companies, charities and government agencies in the mail, on the Web, over the phone, or on your mobile device. Use legitimate sources to contact financial institutions, such as an official website or the telephone number listed on statements and the back of bank or credit cards.
* Don’t publish your birth date, mother’s maiden name, pet’s name or other identifying and personal information on social media websites.
* Use unique and hard‐to‐guess passwords, including for your wireless Internet connection, and don’t access secure Web sites using public Wi‐Fi.
* Install security patches and software updates as soon as they are released by verified sources. For phones, turn off Bluetooth and Wi‐Fi if they are not being used.
3. Detect Unauthorized Activity in Existing Accounts
Monitor current available bank and credit card account balances at least weekly, via online, mobile, ATM, or touchtone banking. Sign up for alerts to be sent to your mobile phone or e‐mail account. Javelin’s study of 5,000 adults finds 43% of all reported identity fraud cases are spotted by consumers self‐monitoring their accounts and those who use more timely electronic methods to detect fraud experience lower average out‐of‐pocket costs.
4. Detect Fraudulent Establishment of New Accounts
* Monitor your credit reports and non credit account information to spot unauthorized activity. Free credit reports from each of the three major credit bureaus are available each year through annualcreditreport.com. Optional fee‐based services, such as more extensive monitoring of credit information, personal identity records and Social Security numbers offer timely and thorough protection.
* If you receive a letter notifying you that your private records were involved in a data breach, 1) confirm the letter is legitimate 2) take advantage of any free protection services that are offered and 3) place a fraud alert on your credit report. A fraud alert requires lenders to make sure it is actually you applying for credit. One in four letters are followed by actual fraud, yet many who are alerted fail to take action.
5. Resolve Identity Fraud Completely
Work through your bank, credit union or protection services provider to report problems immediately and take advantage of your financial provider’s offers of loss protections (all large financial institutions offer zero‐liability for debit and credit cards and many provide the same protection for online banking and bill‐pay).
This report in its entirety can be read at
Click to access 1004.R_2010IdentityFraudSurveyConsumer.pdf
You can also take a short quiz to assess if your Daily Habits are Keeping Your Identity Safe or Putting You at Risk at https://www.idsafety.net/quiz.php