Identity Theft Statistics to See
With the economy being as difficult to deal with as it has been a number of people all over the world have turned to looking into identity theft as a means of getting by in today’s world. As a result of this more people are becoming victims of identity theft. There are a number of things to be aware of with regards to identity theft statistics.
The number of people who have become victims in the past year of identity theft is something important to see. For instance, in 2008 there were nearly ten million people in the United States who became victims of identity theft. It is estimated that these people lost more than thirty billion dollars in money due to fraud.
Businesses are not immune to identity theft either. It is estimated that businesses throughout the world can lose about $220 billion dollars each year as a result of identity theft.
People who have higher incomes are known for being more likely to become victims of identity theft. According to the United States Department of Justice people with salaries of more than fifty thousand dollars twice as likely to end up having their identities robbed than that of those whose salaries were less than that.
A notable thing about identity theft statistics is that many people are unaware of how their identities have been stolen until well after that has happened. About forty percent of all people who have had their identities stolen became aware that they were stolen within three months after this happened. Also, about ten percent of all victims do not become aware of how their identities were stolen until four or more years after it happened.
The amount of time needed to repair identity theft can be a while too. One of the most important identity theft statistics to see is that it can take at least three hundred hours for a victim to be able to repair the damage of identity theft. About a third of all victims will end up taking as much as half a year to get the damage fixed as well. This can make the effects of identity theft ones that are long lasting.
These identity theft statistics are important things to see. These show just how common identity theft has become in today’s society as well as how harmful the effects of identity theft can be in terms of money and time.
