IAR: FTC Says ID Theft Greater Problem Than Originally Thought

An FTC report shows that identity fraud is much more common then previously thought, with about 10 million U.S. victims in 2002. But the vast majority of those people fell victim not to Internet schemes, but rather good old fashioned tricks, like having people steal the carbon copies of their credit card transactions at restaurants. Only about three percent of victims reported Internet account-related identity theft.

One in thirty Americans reported some form of identity theft last year. Despite the fact that only about one in thirty of those victims reported that it happened online, the perception continues that the great majority of identity theft schemes originate on the Internet.