According to the 2003 Computer Crime Survey conducted by the Computer Security Institute in conjunction with the FBI, nearly 13 per cent of respondents were the victim of identity theft in the past year in the US, writes Fran Howarth OF Bloor Research. In total, losses from identity theft in the US in the past year are estimated to have amounted to around $50 billion.. . .
According to the 2003 Computer Crime Survey conducted by the Computer Security Institute in conjunction with the FBI, nearly 13 per cent of respondents were the victim of identity theft in the past year in the US, writes Fran Howarth OF Bloor Research. In total, losses from identity theft in the US in the past year are estimated to have amounted to around $50 billion.

Identity theft is the appropriation of an individual's personal information - including such identifiers as social security numbers, driving license numbers, financial cards and account information. This information can be used to fraudulently obtain such things as loans, credit, employment, healthcare services, rentals and mortgages.

Traditionally, the most common way for thieves to obtain such information is carelessness on the part of individuals, including not taking sufficient care to safeguard personal information, especially when disposing of it. One of the richest treasure troves for thieves looking for personal information are family and company rubbish bins - in the US, it is estimated that as much as 70 per cent of all identity theft includes theft of disposed of information from bins.

However, as the use of the Internet has grown, so too have the incidences of online identity theft. But why should businesses care? For a start, theft of credit card and account information is one of the most common reasons for identity theft, but consumer liability is generally capped in the case of such fraud - leaving financial institutions to pick up the pieces.