Spam News

Financial crisis has more concerned about identity theft

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

A survey of consumer attitudes shows that more Americans are concerned about identity theft than their personal safety, according to technology firm Unysis.

Financial worries jumped about 12 percent from Unisys' last poll in September of 2008, jumping ahead of national security fears for the first time since Unisys launched the bi-annual report in 2007, the company said in its report.

The 2009 Unisys Security Index report found that two-thirds of Americans are "extremely or very concerned" about theft of their credit or debit card information - with 90 percent at least "somewhat concerned," according to the report.

More than 40 percent of Americans are extremely or very concerned about security in relation to viruses or unsolicited spam emails, while three-quarters of Americans believe that the world financial crisis will increase the risk that they will personally experience identity theft.

"With financial [worries], what you really have is people concerned about identity theft and credit card fraud," said Tim Kelleher, vice president and general manager of managed security services at Unisys. "Over one-fourth of Americans say their risk of suffering financial fraud has increased significantly due to the global economic crisis."