BJS: Bureau of Justice Statistics

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Identity theft
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For the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS), the definition of identity theft includes three general types of incidents:

  • unauthorized use or attempted use of existing credit cards
  • unauthorized use or attempted use of other existing accounts, such as checking accounts
  • misuse of personal information to obtain new accounts or loans, or to commit other crimes.

Summary Findings

Identity theft reported by persons in 2008 —

  • An estimated 11.7 million persons, representing 5% of persons age 16 or older in the United States, experienced at least one attempted or successful incident of identity theft during a within 2-year period.
  • Unauthorized use or attempted use of an existing credit card account, the most prevalent type of identity theft, was experienced by about 6.2 million victims (53% of all victims).
  • Although the total financial cost of identity theft was nearly $17.3 billion over a 2-year period, less than a quarter (23%) of victims suffered an out-of-pocket financial loss from the victimization.
  • About 42% of victims spent one day or less resolving any financial or credit problems related to the identity theft.
  • Two in 10 victims of identity theft rated the experience as severely distressing.

Identity theft reported by households in 2007 —

  • Approximately 7.9 million households, about 6.6% of all households in the United States, discovered that at least one member had been a victim of identity theft.
  • The number of households with at least one member who experienced one or more types of identity theft increased 23% from 2005.
  • Over 30% of households victimized by identity theft reported that the perpetrator obtained $500 or more in money, goods, or services from the theft.

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