Old School Identity Theft is Back

Javelin Strategy & Research, a San Francisco based company, released their survey results on identity theft. They have concluded that financial institutions have improved online security measures and a result is identity theft increasing via snail mail and the telephone.

Identity theft originating through in-store and online fraud is declining, while similar fraud originating in the mail and with telephone purchases increased from 3 percent, to 40 percent.

Some additional statistics include:

In 2007 there were 8.1 million Americans victimized by identity theft, as compared to 8.4 million the year before.

In 2007 the cost of identity theft fell to $45 billion, as compared to $51 billion the year before.

The average cost to resolve identity theft problems on the consumers part rose to $691 in 2007, as compared to $554 the year before.

The most frequent sources for identity theft include:
33% - loss/theft of a wallet, check or credit card
23% - in-store, mail or telephone purchases
17% - use of confidential information by relatives, friends, and in-home employees
8% - computer viruses, spyware and hackers
7% - data breaches and
6% - stolen paper mail