The answer may surprise you – while everyone should be aware of identity theft, children and the elderly are at an especially high risk of becoming victims.
Potential Victims of Identity Theft
Anyone can be a victim of identity theft. Children and aging adults are particularly vulnerable to identity theft as they may not understand specific situations, bills, and their care and finances are handled by others.
But the reason children are so often victims of identity theft is shockingly simple. It's an unused Social Security number — and no one is monitoring it. In fact, children are 51% more likely than adults to have their identity stolen.
Most identity theft is perpetrated by a family member of the victim, and some may not be able to obtain new credit cards or open new bank accounts or loans.
Identity theft usually begins when your personal data is exposed through hacking, phishing, data breaches, or other means. Next, a criminal makes use of your exposed information to do something illegal, such as opening an account in your name.
The most common reason why people commit identity theft and other white-collar crimes is for financial benefit. By committing identity theft, individuals may: Take out loans. Make purchases using other people's credit cards.
Reported cases of identity theft, by age of victims U.S. 2022. In 2022, the most targeted age group for identity theft were 30 to 39 year olds, among whom 286,890 cases were reported to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in the United States.
In 2021-22: 8.1% of persons (1.7 million) experienced card fraud. 2.7% of persons (552,000) experienced a scam. 0.8% of persons (159,600) experienced identity theft.
Employment or tax identity theft is the top category among Americans between 50 and 59—and for people 19 and under. The FTC classifies the following as Other identity theft: insurance, online shopping, email and social media, securities accounts, evading the law, and medical identity theft.
Every year there are more than 50,000 individual personal data breaches in the US. Identity theft victims in the US are most commonly aged between 30-39 years old. Americans are statistically likely to know a victim of identity theft. 87% of people leave personal information exposed online.
Bank fraud: New bank accounts, existing bank accounts and payment methods, such as debit cards, electronic fund transfers and automatic clearinghouse (ACH) payments, are a leading playground for identity thieves.
One of the reasons that 18 to 24 are more vulnerable to scams is due to the fact that this group is more likely to make a purchase or do other business digitally or online.
There are a number of ways identity thieves may obtain your personal information. Fraudsters may dig through mail or trash in search of credit card or bank statements. Unsecured web sites or public Wi-Fi may allow identity thieves to access your information electronically.
Change the passwords, pin numbers, and log in information for all of your potentially affected accounts, including your email accounts, and any accounts that use the same password, pin, or log in information. Contact your police department, report the crime and obtain a police report.
You should review your bank account statements regularly; if you see unknown purchases, that could be a sign that your identity has been stolen. Check credit reports. Similarly, monitor your credit reports from all three credit-reporting bureaus for any unknown accounts or inaccurate information.
Signs of identity theft
Unusual bills or charges that you don't recognise appear on your bank statement. Mail that you're expecting doesn't arrive. You get calls or texts about products and services you've never used.
What they want are account numbers, passwords, Social Security numbers, and other confidential information that they can use to loot your checking account or run up bills on your credit cards. Identity thieves can take out loans or obtain credit cards and even driver's licenses in your name.
How fraudsters can steal your personal information. Most of us know the importance of making our passwords and PINs secure and keeping them out of fraudsters' hands. But even simple details such as your full name, date of birth and address can be used to commit identity fraud.
It's not the same as a scammer obtaining your credit card digits. No one will be able to withdraw money from your personal bank account if all they have is your account number.
But if scammers gain access to your bank account number, they can use it for fraudulent ACH transfers or payments. For example, scammers could use your bank account details to buy products online. Or worse, they could trick you into sending them money that you'll never be able to get back.
First let's clear up one myth - giving out your bank account number and BSB is fine. "There is no issue in giving out your BSB/account details as it's only possible to deposit funds rather than withdraw funds," an ING spokesperson told Money. "If an unauthorised debit occurs then the debiting institution is liable."