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B RosenA recent study finds that identity theft incidents have dropped 28% since 2009, the year in which ID fraud reached an all time high. This is great news, but the expenses associated with recovering from ID theft have continued to climb in spite of this drop. So it appears that criminals are targeting fewer but bigger hits. And while the overall incidence of ID theft decreased, new account fraud actually registered an increase.
Part of the rise in new account fraud can be associated with criminals who prey on their family and friends, as well as older Americans who tend to make themselves vulnerable by exposing too much personal information on social networking sites. Unfortunately this type of ID theft is also becoming increasingly difficult to detect.
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B Rosen
A giant paper jam backed up the line of residents waiting to shred their personal documents as part of the city-sponsored "Shred Fest" event Sunday in a bid to prevent identity theft.
Officials with the Department of Consumer Affairs brought in a giant shredder from Cintas to Union Square to dispose of documents with residents' personal information free of charge for the prevention of identity theft.
The DCA stationed other giant shredders for the purpose of preventing identity theft at Columbus Circle and St. Nicholas Park between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. Sunday.
As a way to prevent identity theft, officials encouraged residents to shred pay stubs from the previous tax year, year-old bank statements, credit card applications and any documents with social security numbers, signatures, private contact information or personal pin numbers and any other documents that might lead to identity theft.
Timesrecordnews.com reports that an estimated 10 million Americans are affected by Identity Theft Frauds annually. In one of the fastest growing forms of identity theft, the crooks use a stranger's social security number and other personal information to fool the Internal Revenue Service into diverting their refunds to a dummy account. This identity theft fraud trend has been noticed through a Scripps Howard News Service investigation.
The volume of tax or wage related identity theft complaints to the United States Federal Trade Commission have tripled from 2005 to 2009, despite a decline in the overall number of identity theft complaints to the federal watchdog agency which collects information for law enforcement authorities around the nation.
Other types of identity theft including purloined tax refunds and using a lifted identity to open new utility accounts are on the rise.
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Dave Dugdale