Statistics for Internet Identity Theft Scams
Identity theft scams account for an annual total loss of about $264.6 million. To put that in perspective, the average victim of identity theft loses an estimated $931 to thieves. These and other statistics found below come from statistics cited from a review of Internet scam complaints filed with the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) in 2008. Review statistics and facts about Internet identity theft scams to learn about trends in this growing type of crime.
Most Common Types of Internet Scams
The majority of Internet scams don’t actually result in identity theft. Rather, the scam simply results in stolen goods or money. The most common example of this is non-delivery of goods or payment for goods purchased over the Internet. Such scams accounted for 32.9 percent of all IC3 complaints in 2008. Auction fraud – frauds committed via auction sites – resulted in an additional 25.5 percent. Of scams that involve identity theft, the following are the most prevalent:
- Credit/debit card fraud: 9.0 percent; use of stolen credit card to make online purchases
- Confidence fraud: 7.9 percent; conning victims into divulging passwords and personal data via e-mail
- Computer fraud: 6.2 percent; acquiring personal data through hacking or malware
- Check fraud: 5.4 percent; purchasing online goods via stolen checks
- Nigerian letter fraud: 2.8 percent; a special type of confidence fraud
Most Costly Identity Theft Scams
Based on median averages of all IC3 filed complaints, check fraud is the most costly (loss of $3,000 per victim). This is followed closely by confidence fraud, with a median loss of $2,000. Nigerian letter fraud results in an estimated $1,650 per case. Other notable median averages include:
- Computer fraud: $1,000
- Non-delivery of goods or payment: $800
- Auction fraud: $610
- Credit/debit card fraud: $223
Internet Scam Demographics
Males are slightly more likely to be victims of online fraud, accounting for 55.4 percent of all filed claims. Additionally, males tend to lose more money than females ($1.69 per every $1.00 lost by a female). Close to one half of all filed claims were reported by individuals between the ages of 30 and 50. Of all filed claims, roughly one-third originated in California, Texas, Florida and New York.
Approximately 74 percent of all scams were initiated via e-mail.
On the other side, 77.4 of those who perpetrate identity theft scams are estimated to be male. Of all thieves, 66.1 percent reside in the United States. Other major countries of residence for scammers include the United Kingdom, Nigeria, Canada, China and South Africa.