ID Theft Recovery Slower in Bad Economy
Identity theft can easily lead to credit discrepancies and legal issues.
But respondents to a Nationwide Insurance survey said today’s difficult economy is making financial recovery following ID theft much harder than in the past.
Though credit card fraud is often reimbursed following an investigation, debit card theft may not always be, and loan fraud can involve legal fees beyond the victim’s means, the survey said.
With salary freezes, layoffs and fewer bonuses, an identity theft victim may be left without the resources to fight thefts made in his name. And this is on top of losses already incurred by the theft itself, making the financial impact even more devastating, experts say.
Four Hundred Respond to Survey
Columbus, OH-based Nationwide Insurance polled 400 adults across the U.S. last December to discover what impact identity theft could have (or has already had) on victims.
The telephone survey included 200 individuals who had been victims of identity theft in the past and spanned age, ethnicity and geographic categories, Nationwide representatives said.
The study revealed that many Americans predict difficulties in recovering from ID theft as a result of today’s economy. In fact, nearly half of the Nationwide poll respondents said they didn’t know whether they had enough money to recover from an ID theft event.
A Financial and Emotional Toll
Nationwide representatives said that previous polls had already shown that it takes an average of 81 hours to resolve a credit fraud issue. And of those, one in four cases remained unresolved after a year of trying. The process can be exhausting, representatives noted.
“Identity theft not only takes a financial toll on victims, but an emotional one as well,” said Nationwide chief privacy officer Kirk Herath. “Identity theft is the only crime where the victim is generally presumed guilty until he or she can presume their (sic) innocence.”
Around 10% of polled ID theft victims had missed payments due to the crime committed against them.
Caucasian Females May Be at Highest Risk
About nine million people are victims of identity theft a year, making this type of crime number one on the Federal Trade Commission’s list of complaints for eight years running, Nationwide said.
Of these, married white females ages 35-54 were the largest segment identified by the Nationwide survey as victims of ID fraud. The majority were full-time employees, married and college educated.
Other ID theft targets identified by the survey were individuals who are separated, divorced or make at least $75 thousand in income annually.
A Majority Would Take Matters into Their Own Hands
However, the average U.S. citizen is not likely to sit back and remain a victim, the poll showed.
Fifty-two percent of respondents said they would take matters into their own hands if they were to experience an identity related crime. And nine out of 10 people said they are already taking safety precautions against ID theft, including shredding documents and requesting and going over their credit reports and credit statements regularly.
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