By
21 October 2008

National Protect Your Identity Week is from October 19 to October 25. Check out these eye-opening statistics about identity theft.  Then play The Case of the Cyber Criminal.

• 8.4 million Americans fell victim to identity theft fraud in 2007**

• ID thefts in 2007 totaled $49.3 billion dollars**

• Identity theft has been the top consumer complaint to the FTC for the past five years in a row*

• The average victim spends an average of 600 hours recovering from Identity Theft*

• It is estimated that victims of Identity Theft lose an average of $5720 per Identity Theft incident and spend an average of $1400 repairing damage to their good name and credit record*

• In 26% of all cases, the victim knew who had misused their personal information*

• It is estimated that 9% of all victims reported a family member or relative as the person responsible for misusing their personal information*

• 39% of victims discovered that their identity was stolen more than seven months after it first occurred*

• 29% of identity theft complaints were a part of Generation Y (ages 18-29)*

• 25% of identity theft victim information was misused through credit card fraud*

Sources: Federal Trade Commission* and Javelin Strategy and Research**

For more information visit: www.ftc.gov and www.protectyouridnow.org.

Case of the Cyber Criminal