Identity Theft Credit Card Statistics

The pandemic indirectly led to increases in certain types of fraud and identity theft.
There were 323,920 reports of COVID-19 fraud last year, a number that has since grown to over 500,000
Government benefits fraud, in particular, skyrocketed as criminals stole stimulus checks and unemployment benefits

Key Findings

There were 1,387,615 reports of identity theft in 2020
Government documents or benefits fraud was the most common type of ID theft
Those aged 30 to 39 reported the most cases
Credit card fraud rose by 44.7% over 2019 levels to 393,207 reports
1,108 data breaches in 2020
Identity theft reports
398,356 370,916 444,344
650,523
1,387,615
42% increase from 2019
FTC reports that consumers lost a total of $3.3 billion to fraud in 2020, nearly $1.5 billion more than in 2019

The most common types of identity theft

Government documents or benefits fraud: 406,375 1,663%
Credit card fraud: 393,207 44.8% Employment or tax-related fraud: 113,529 149.6% Phone or utilities fraud: 99,539 19.2% Bank fraud: 89,476 52.7% Other identity theft: 353,152 63.4% Data source: Federal Trade Commission (2020, 2021).

The growth of synthetic account fraud

Synthetic account fraud involves a combination of real and fabricated information
The synthetic identity can be used to apply for credit cards, loans, and government benefits
Perpetrators often spend time building a good credit score with synthetic identities
They max out an identity’s credit and abandon its accounts
Identity theft reports by age
19 and under: 14,211 23,651 66
20,769 190,916 72
30,255 306,090 79
40,752 302,678 146
50 to 59: 77,350 244,183 215
60 to 69: 44,679 123,112 175
70 to 79: 17,161 39,009 127
80 and over: 5,687 9,915 74.3%

Identity theft by state

The states with the most identity theft reports in 2020: California, 147,382, Illinois, 135,038, Texas, 134,788, Florida, 101,367, Georgia, 69,487
Population sizes play a large role in which states have the most reports per 100,000 residents

States ranked by identity theft reports in 2020 per capita:

Kansas 1,483 43,211
Rhode Island 1,191 12,621
Illinois 1,066 135,038
Nevada 740 22,801
Washington 712 54,247
Massachusetts 661 45,575
Georgia 654 69,487
Arkansas 579 17,470
Maine 534 7,183
Louisiana 473 21,976
Florida 472 101,367
Texas 465 134,788
Arizona 380 27,661
California 373 147,382
South Carolina 373 19,193
Mississippi 371 11,048
New Jersey 362 32,125
Alabama 354 17,376
Oklahoma 349 13,797
Maryland 343 20,718
North Carolina 288 30,176
Tennessee 281 19,182
Hawaii 271 3,835
Pennsylvania 265 33,886
Indiana 257 17,306
Michigan 244 24,370
Montana 228 2,439
Missouri 222 13,653
Ohio 222 25,893
Vermont 130 810
Alaska 127 926
Top metropolitan areas for identity theft
Top Kansas City, MO-KS 1,925 4,465
Lawrence, KS 1,717 2,099
Wichita, KS 994 2,929
Manhattan, KS 980 1,207 1,573
Tuscaloosa, AL 1,195 3,011
Little Rock-North Little Rock, AR 1,156 8,579
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN-WI 1,145 108,287
Bloomington, IL 1,048 2,056
Springfield, IL 994 994
Providence-Warwick, RI-MA 970 15,751
Sumter, SC 916 1,286
Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Alpharetta, GA 896 53,964
Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA 879 34,968
Champaign-Urbana, IL 870 1,966
Honolulu, Hawaii 803 18,206
Rockford, IL 738 2,480
Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, TX 724 51,165
Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater, WA 691 3,722
Tallahassee, FL 686 2,655
Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH 678 33,030
Credit card fraud reports by year
124,522 133,100 157,743 271,927 393,207

Types of credit card fraud

New account: An identity thief uses your information to open a credit card account in your name.

Existing account
Identity thieves can use your information for new account fraud because it’s an entirely new account that the consumer doesn’t know about.

Data breaches by year

The number of data breaches dropped by 19% in 2020, and the number of individuals affected fell by 66%.
However, this is not a sign that security is improving.
Cybercriminals are less interested in stealing massive amounts of personal information
They prefer to target businesses because of larger payouts
Root Cause of Data Breaches in 2020
Cyberattacks: Includes phishing, ransomware, malware, and non-secured cloud environments
Human and system errors: Includes failure to configure cloud security, email or letter correspondence, and lost devices and documents
Physical attacks: Includes device theft, document theft, improper disposal, and skimming devices

Types of data compromised in 2022

Most data breaches included people’s names, and a little over half of them included full Social Security numbers.
A turbulent year for identity theft and credit card fraud
Data breaches dropped and affected far fewer consumers than in years past
Criminals are focusing more on businesses
There aren’t as many government benefits available as there were during the COVID-19 pandemic which could lead to a decline in government benefits fraud