Unfortunately, due to the pandemic, the number of account take overs continued to soar in 2019 and 2020. This was underscored by consumer trends that led to a 200% rise in mobile banking registrations. Although there were just over 14,600 reports related to it, FTC Consumer Sentinel Report data shows identity theft based on fraudulent applications for federal student loans rose 188% between 2018 and 2019. In 2020, that figure rose by another 88% with 27,495 incidents reported. The 2020 FTC Consumer Sentinel Data Book reveals that identity fraud accounted for the largest share of fraud reports to the FTC, accounting for 29.39% of all reported scams last year. According to the FTC, there were 2.2 million fraud reports from consumers in 2020, a nearly 32% increase over the 1.6 million fraud reports in 2019. 44% of these were from people between the ages of 20 and 29, while just 13% were from people over 70 years old. In 2019, ID theft had risen to 20.33% of the total number of reports, or over 650,000. However, this rose to 20.39% in 2020 with nearly 1.4 million identity theft reports made. In 2019, nearly 77% of businesses claim they didn’t have the personnel to properly secure their records and systems, a 2% increase from 2018. Around 55% indicate they lack the budget to invest in better protection.
According to a CSID survey, in 2016, 52% of small businesses didn’t invest in cyber risk mitigation, believing that they didn’t store any private information. Finally, in 2020, small businesses accounted for 28% of all data breaches. Despite the verified increase in data protection it provides, 86 percent of consumers fail to use a VPN to protect their WiFi connections. Despite this, only 58% said they wouldn’t use public wifi networks for shopping in the future. Fraud than those not active on any social media networks. Those who use social media are among the most likely to experience applicant fraud. Javelin Strategy found that individuals who have an active social media presence had a 30 percent higher risk of being a fraud victim than those who weren’t active. Do not fall victim to identity sham — learn how crooks take identities, things you can do to reduce your own risk, and the capabilities Identity Restoration (IDR) coverage offer through a lot of Insurance companies. The NFDM’s classes explain the mortgage process and the different costs of home ownership, like insurance and maintenance.
Like paper cards, digital files can become lost. Meanwhile, Americans are spending 30 percent more money online and have been using online platforms like Zoom, UberEats, tele-health services, and mobile banking apps more than ever while socially distancing. There are numerous paper shredders out there that can be purchased by people that want to preserve their personal identity. The lack of personal WiFi protections appears to coincide with the fact that 60% of consumers feel as though their personal information is safe when using public WiFi. Still, identity theft prevention appears to be on the rise despite savvier consumers. Despite the risks involved, a survey found 79% of Americans admit to sharing passwords. Criminals can access these computers, install key-logging software and voila, your credit card numbers, passwords and PIN numbers are ripe for the picking. Given 65% of surveyed adults admit to reusing passwords across sites, many adults could be more vulnerable to ID theft than they realize. However, it recently launched an online platform for reporting fraud, which may see these numbers increase more than usual, given the ease of which users can file a report. You’re entitled to a copy of your credit report for free once annually.
Consequently, people with poor credit are still at risk for fraud and fraud losses. If you’ve always dreamed of owning your own home, but are unsure of how to buy a home and how much owning a home really costs, consider a class with the NFDM. Also, since all data and communications are protected by cryptography, that makes chip and PIN cards infinitely more difficult to hack. FTC data shows those aged 30-39 are most likely to be identity theft victims. Some situations are already determined to involve forgery in case a single letter or word changed in a record makes that document fake. What do you do in the case of idenity theft? In its 2018 study The Aftermath®: The Non-Economic Impacts of Identity Theft, the Identity Theft Resource Center examined the emotional impacts that follow from identity theft victimhood. In its 2019 Internet Security Threat Report, Symantec noted that it detected and blocked 3.7 million formjacking attempts in 2018. This technique seems to be working for hackers, though, since in Q1 2020, Symantec found 7,836 compromised websites, up from 7,663 the previous quarter.