ID Theft

Did You Know That Reports of Identity Theft Are At Its Highest Level In Six Years?

Did you know that 13.1 million Americans were victims of identity theft in 2015 alone? That figure nearly equals the populations of New York City, Los Angeles and Chicago, combined. The sad fact is the rate of identity theft is at the second highest level in the past six years. Why is this?   

One reason that identity theft is on the rise right now can be traced to widespread mistrust of financial institutions. According to the Javelin study, people who do not trust their financial institutions are less likely to use transactional monitoring, email alerts, or credit freezes. Unfortunately, the head-in-the-sand- approach is dangerous, as it allows criminals to hold and use the stolen information much longer than they otherwise would, causing more damages than they otherwise would.   

Lastly, the introduction of EMV cards (or "chip cards") in 2015 made it much harder for criminals to commit in-person existing-account fraud to new account fraud. This is great news for the American shopper. However, there is a dark side to the story. Javelin reports that the adoption of EMV cards in the U.S. is a significant factor in the 113 percent increase in new account fraud. New account fraud is when an identity thief uses bits of stolen personal information to open a new account in your name and then spend all they can before you receive the unexpected bill in the mail.