 TITLE: Identity Theft Statistics CONTENT: Fraud and Identity Theft Statistics by Type\n-------------------------------------------\n### Credit Card Fraud\nMore than 32% of Americans complained about credit card fraud in 2016, double the rate from 2015, according to the Federal Trade Commission. Javelin Strategy reported that criminals stole $16 billion via identity fraud in 2016 and ecommerce fraud increased more than 30% in the first six-months of 2017 according to Experian.\n> More than 32% of Americans complained about credit card fraud in 2016, according to the FTC.\n### Holiday Shopping Fraud\nDuring the 2017 holiday season (Thanksgiving Day through December 31), online fraud attempts increased 22% over 2016, according to new benchmark data from ACI Worldwide. The number of eCommerce transactions grew by 19%.\nFraud attempts were highest on:\n*   **Thanksgiving Day**: 1.94%, up from 1.26% in 2016\n*   **Christmas Eve**: 1.78%, up from 1.48%\n*   **December 21** (the cutoff date for express shipments): 1.67%, up from 1.49%\n> During the 2017 holiday season, 1 out of every 85 transactions was a fraudulent attempt.\nDuring the 2017 holiday season, 1 out of every 85 transactions was a fraudulent attempt, compared to 1 out of every 97 transactions in 2016 and 1 out of every 109 transactions in 2015.\n### Imposter Scams\nImpostor Scams, when a scammer pretends to be someone you know and trust, moved up to be the number one complaint to the FTC in 2017. One in five people who were victims of an imposter scam lost money, totaling $328 million. For military consumers, imposter scams were the number one complaint category in the Consumer Sentinel Network Report, followed by telephone and mobile services at number two.\nEmbed\n### Mail Identity Theft\nMail identity theft is one of the oldest ways for a criminal to steal your personal information and according to the US Postal Service's Annual Report, it received over 60,000 complaints of mail theft in 2016, which resulted in over 2,000 convictions.\n### Medical Identity Theft\nMedical identity theft can be harder to discover than other types of ID theft because it happens when someone steals another person's identity to obtain medical services. More than 27% of data breaches in 2017 were medical or healthcare related according to the Identity Theft Resource Center.\n> More than 27% of data breaches in 2017 were medical or healthcare related.\n### Mortgage Fraud\nMortgage fraud occurs when a borrower, broker or an appraiser lies about information on the application for a mortgage loan. During the mortgage crisis, Experian estimated that first-party fraud—like loan stacking—may have accounted for more than 25% of all consumer credit charge-offs at the time.\n### Online Shopping Fraud\nOnline shopping fraud, or ecommerce fraud, occurs when a criminal leverages stolen payment information or fraudulently acquired bank or credit card accounts to make retail transactions without the account owner's knowledge.\nEcommerce fraud increased more than 30% in the first six-months of 2017 compared to the same time in 2016, according to Experian. In 2017, Oregon was the top state for ecommerce fraud ranking #1 for both billing and shipping fraud.\n#### The Growth of Online Shopping Fraud\nJuniper Research's Online Payment Fraud white paper reports that the transactional value of card-not-present fraud (fraud that occurs when the card is not physically presented during the purchase, such as over the phone or online) is estimated to reach $19.3 billion in 2022.\n**Online payment fraud is anticipated to grow 13.7% annually from 2017 to 2022**. Digital banking fraud should reach $7.9 billion by 2022. $50.9 billion is expected to be spent on fraud detection and prevention software between 2017 and 2022.\nEmbed\n### Synthetic ID Theft\nSynthetic identity theft occurs when criminals create a fictitious identity using various pieces of real and fabricated information—such as a Social Security number, date of birth, address, phone number and email. The immediate victim is the bank or lender, but long-term, whoever's Social Security number is used (this can be a child or adult), will have to deal with the impact of any accounts or debts attached to them fraudulently.\nThe average synthetic identity theft loss is $6,000 according to data from Experian. While many industry analysts may not agree on the total amount of money lost from synthetic ID theft, estimated to be in the billions, Aite Group stated that synthetic ID theft would cause $800 million in losses for credit card issuers in 2017.\nSource: Experian\n### Tax ID Theft\nThe IRS reported that in 2016, they stopped 883,000 confirmed identity theft tax returns, which is a 37% drop in confirmed identity theft tax returns compared to 2015. As of October 2017, the IRS had stopped 443,000 confirmed identity theft tax returns, a 30% decline from the same time last year.\n**Tax ID theft numbers fell substantially**. The number of people reporting that they were victims of tax identity theft fell to 376,000 in 2016, a 46% decline from 699,000 in 2015. This year the strong trend line has continued through August: 189,000 taxpayers have reported themselves as victims of identity theft, which is down approximately 40% from the same time last year. While tax ID theft has decreased, the IRS still estimated that $14.5 billion in fraudulent returns were attempted in 2015.\n### W-2 Scams\nThe W-2 form scam has emerged as one of the most dangerous phishing emails in the tax community. During the last two tax seasons, cybercriminals have tricked payroll personnel or people with access to payroll information into disclosing sensitive information for entire workforces.\nThe scam affected all types of employers, from small and large businesses to public schools and universities, hospitals, tribal governments and charities. Incidents reported from victims and non-victims increased to 900 in 2017, compared to slightly over 100 in 2016. There are additional tax scams popping up constantly as well, including those targeting tax preparers. END