IDENTITY THEFT: THE AFTERMATH – 2003
The IDENTITY THEFT RESOURCE CENTER announces new and thought-provoking findings about the long-term impact of identity theft on victims.
“Identity Theft: The Aftermath – 2003” details the economic impact of this crime on victims and the business community, responsiveness of entities with whom victim must interact, and the first quantification of the emotional impact of this crime on its victims.
This study is particularly timely given recent studies that estimate the last year’s victim population at 7- 10 million Americans and as Congress considers amendments to the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). Despite the fact that identity theft has reached epidemic proportions, the House of Representatives recently passed FCRA legislation which offers only modest protections for consumers while blocking states from enacting tougher reforms that could negatively impact Californians.
The complete report is now available on the ITRC website, The Aftermath 2003
. The report also includes direct quotes from victims about their frustrations, hopes and needs.
Highlights from this report include:
- Victims now spend an average of 600 hours recovering from this crime, often over a period of years. Three years ago the average was 175 hours of time, an increase of more than 247%.
- Based on 600 hours times the indicated victim wages, this equals nearly $16,000 in lost potential or realized income.
- While victims are finding out about the crime more quickly, it is taking far longer than ever before to clear their records and recover from the situation.
- Even after the thief stops using the information, victims struggle with the impact of identity theft. That might include increased insurance or credit card fees, inability to find a job, higher interest rates and battling collection agencies and issuers who refuse to clear records despite substantiating evidence of the crime. This “tail” may continue for more than 10 years after the crime was first discovered.
- Today the business community loses between $40,000 - $92,000 per name in fraudulent charges, based on reported fraud losses seen by surveyed victims.
- The emotional impact on victims is likened to that felt by victims of more violent crime, including rape, violent assault and repeated battering. Some victims feel dirty, defiled, ashamed and embarrassed, and undeserving of assistance. Others report a split with a significant other or spouse and of being unsupported by family members.
- Today victims spend an average of $1,400 in out-of-pocket expenses, an increase of 85% from years past.
- Approximately 85% of victims found out about the crime due to an adverse situation – denied credit or employment, notification by police or collection agencies, receipt of credit cards or bills never ordered, etc. Only 15% found out through a positive action taken by a business group that verified a submitted application or a reported change of address.
- Victims report a lack of responsiveness from those they turned to for help similar to results reported in “Nowhere to Turn” in 2000. Survey responses and graphs included in the report should provide much food for thought by those entities.
ITRC took on the task of updating victim impact information and benchmarking it against information that had been collected over the past several years. It used the widely-quoted “Nowhere to Turn” study (done in 2000 by Privacy Rights Clearinghouse and CalPIRG), various FTC studies and even some of GAO reports. ITRC also included items that law enforcement, collection agencies, credit issuers and legislators wanted to know more about.
Involved in the analysis were Dr. Dale Pletcher (California State University Sacramento, email:
pletcher@cba4.cba.csus.edu
) who worked on much of the statistical data and benchmarking in Sections 14 and 15 and Dr. Charles Nelson (psychologist in San Diego and crime victim specialist) who worked on the emotional impact sections. “Identity Theft: The Aftermath – 2003” clearly defines the impact of identity theft on the various victims touched by this crime.
The Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC) is a San Diego-based organization that specializes in one issue only --- identity theft. The center, which was founded in 1999, has interacted with thousands of victims, dozens of law enforcement agencies and governmental agencies, state and federal legislators, and business groups concerned with the problem of identity theft. Phone- 858-693-7935