Over 16.7 million US citizens fall victim to identity fraud, Javelin study reveals

This is a record high since Javelin Strategy & Research began tracking identity fraud in 2003. Moreover, despite industry efforts to prevent identity fraud, fraudsters successfully adapted to net 1.3 million more victims in 2017, with the amount stolen rising to USD 16.8 billion. With the adoption of EMV (embedded chip) cards and terminals, the types of identity fraud continued to shift online and away from physical stores.

2017 saw a notable change in how fraud is being committed. While credit card accounts remained the most prevalent targets for new account fraud, there was significant growth in the opening of new intermediary accounts, such as email payments (e.g. PayPal) and other internet accounts (e.g. ecommerce merchants such as Amazon) by fraudsters. Although not as easily monetized alone, these account types are invaluable in helping fraudsters transfer funds from the existing accounts of their victims.

The research also found three significant changes in data breaches in 2017. Nearly a third of US consumers were notified of a breach in 2017, up from 12% in 2016. For the first time ever, Social Security numbers (35%) were compromised more than credit card numbers (30%) in breaches, and finally, data breaches are causing consumers to lose trust in institutions.

Also, the 2018 Identity Fraud Study found four significant trends: record high incidence of identity fraud; account takeover grew significantly; online shopping presents the greatest fraud and fraudsters are getting more sophisticated.

The annual 2018 Identity Fraud Study is a comprehensive analysis of identity fraud trends, independently produced by Javelin Strategy & Research and made possible by Identity Guard, a provider of identity risk management and privacy protection services for consumers and businesses. The study is in its fifteenth consecutive year, and is the nation’s longest-running study of identity fraud, with 74,000 respondents surveyed since 2003.