Identity Theft News

Identity theft increases, but at lower cost

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Approximately 10 million Americans reported they were victims of identity theft last year, which is an increase from the 8.1 million from a year before, according to a new report.

However, despite the rise in the number of fraud incidences, the cost of identity theft to customers dropped by 31 percent, from $718 per incident in 2007 to $494 in 2008. This is reportedly the lowest rate since 2005.

This decrease, according to the 2009 Identity Fraud Survey Report was released yesterday by Javelin Strategy & Research, may be because of faster detection and resolution on the part of financial institutions and billing organizations.

Jim Van Dyke, president and founder of Javelin, told SCMagazineus.com the report was good for consumers because it meant businesses were absorbing a greater portion of the loss.

"Corporate America is shouldering more of the load than ever before," Van Dyke said.

However, some security officials said they were uneasy about the increasing amount of identity theft and referenced the recent troubles of Heartland Payment Systems, a credit card processor that was recently hacked.

A class action lawsuit has been filed against Heartland citing the company did not incorporate strong enough data protection for its customers.