According to Javelin Strategy & Research, small business owners suffered identity fraud at one-and-a-half times the rate of other adults in 2009. Much of this theft occurred as online identity theft via web-based transactions or hacking into customer databases or morphed into online identity theft when the stolen information was used to impersonate another person in online transactions.

In November 2009, Javelin Strategy and Research conducted telephone interviews with more than 5,000 U.S. consumers to identify and track the methods used by criminals and the impact of all types of identity theft, including online identity theft on American consumers and businesses. Almost 4,800 U.S. adults, including 487 victims of identity theft, were surveyed. It appears from the study that the susceptibility of small business to identity theft may be attributed to the fact that small business owners often use personal accounts when making business transactions (and vice-versa) and make a larger number of transactions than typical adults. Since small businesses rarely employ a compliance department or on-site legal counsel to monitor its operations on a regular basis, incidents of online identity theft can sometimes go undiscovered for a longer period of time than for individuals or more complex, larger organizations.

Online identity theft criminals are increasingly using stolen information to open new credit card accounts, e-mail payment accounts and cell-phone accounts, all of which can be opened, used and monitored online from anywhere in the world.

Increased vigilance by consumers, businesses and government agencies appear to be having an impact on the problem. Many organizations, especially banks and financial institutions have started offering online identity theft monitoring services, which can sometimes detect account access and payment anomalies, as well as dispute resolution and identity theft education programs, in most cases offering these services free to customers. Mobile banking solutions allow account monitoring, alerting customers in near-real-time of account activity and possible fraud. These partnerships and increased activism on the behalf of consumers resulted in consumer out of pocket costs dropping to an all-time low of $373 in 2009.

When it comes to online identity theft, the “good news” is that consumers are increasingly aware of e-mail scams such as “phishing.”, and less likely to respond to e-mail requests for personal information. The use of mobile devices allows consumers to review and report identity theft in close to “real-time,” which may result in lower victim costs and faster incident detection times.

Without a doubt, consumers play a key role in preventing, detecting and resolving online identity theft . While technology is helping consumers to monitor, detect and resolve identity fraud, consumers should remain vigilant about safeguarding their personal information both on-line and off.

The Javelin Research and Strategy 2010 survey of identity theft revealed that the efforts made by businesses and individuals in detecting and resolving identity theft cases have helped to reduce the overall costs of identity theft for the consumer. In 2010 the average resolution time of fraud cases fell by 30%, and an increase in the number of victims who file police reports resulted in a larger number of arrests, prosecutions and convictions in 2009.

While efforts helping consumers monitor, detect and resolve identity theft, additional efforts should be made in preventing identity theft in the first place. Without a doubt, consumers must play a key role in preventing identity theft . While technology is helping, consumers should remain vigilant about safeguarding their personal information both on-line and off.

The Javelin study outlines three areas where individuals can work toward preventing identity theft in the first place, and outlines five basic areas consumers can focus on.

Protect your documents
•    Eliminate as many paper statements as possible by requesting electronic statements instead
•    Use post office boxes to mail payments rather than placing mail containing checks in an unlocked mailbox
•    Secure documents containing personal information such as social security numbers or account numbers in a locked storage box
•    Purchase and use a paper shredder

Protect your computer
•    Install antivirus software and update it regularly
•    Password protect personal and financial records, using unique or hard-to-guess passwords
•    Never give out personal or account information on-line or over the phone
•    Don’t publish personal information on social networking sites such as FaceBook

Monitor your accounts
•    Check your bank and credit card activity periodically – and sign up for alerts whenever possible. The javelin study found that 43 percent of all reported identity fraud cases were spotted by consumers self-monitoring their accounts and those who use more timely electronic methods to detect fraud experience lower average out-of-pocket costs
•    Utilize an identity theft protection service to help detect the fraudulent establishment of new accounts in your name. Identity thieves are increasingly using stolen information to open new credit card accounts, on-line and e-mail payment accounts and cell-phone accounts.

Although the overall number of incidents of identity theft increased by 12% over the previous year, the average consumer’s costs related to each incident of identity theft decreased sharply during the same time period. James Van Dyke, president and founder, Javelin Strategy & Research commented, “The good news is consumers are getting more aggressive in monitoring, detecting and preventing fraud with the help of technology and partnerships with financial institutions, government agencies and resolution services.”

In November 2009, Javelin Strategy and Research conducted telephone interviews with more than 5,000 U.S. consumers to identify and track the methods used by criminals and the impact of identity theft on American consumers and businesses. Almost 4,800 U.S. adults, including 487 victims of identity theft, were surveyed via a 50-question phone interview to gain insight into this crime, its effects on its victims, and how the survey findings can help consumers in preventing identity theft. The survey has been conducted each year since 2003.

More consumers than ever before are actively monitoring their credit and financial accounts for suspicious activity and fraud and are acting faster when identity theft is detected.

More than ever before, consumers and businesses are investing time and money in identity theft protection, the latest survey by Javelin Strategy and Research shows. A survey of consumers and businesses conducted in November, 2009 showed that many consumers are monitoring their accounts more frequently using technologies such as on-line banking, mobile alerts and identity theft protection services. Increasingly, efforts by consumers, businesses and government agencies to safeguard sensitive personal and financial information have helped in resolving identity theft cases more quickly and have resulted in an overall reduction of the costs of identity theft.

With the exception of consumers aged 18 – 24, many consumers are found to be more likely to monitor their accounts regularly, to take advantage of identity theft protection programs offered by financial institutions and to install anti-virus or anti-malware software on their home computers.

Many organizations, especially banks and financial institutions have started offering fraud monitoring services, which can sometimes detect account access and payment anomalies, as well as dispute resolution and identity theft education programs. The one glaring exception identified by the study are small businesses. The survey found that small business owners suffered identity fraud at one-and-a-half times the rate of other adults. This appears to be due to the fact that small or home office-based business owners tend to use personal financial accounts for business transactions and often make many more transactions than typical adults. Small businesses may not have the financial or other resources available to focus on preventing identity fraud or investing in identity theft protection programs and software.

Without a doubt, consumer education on identity theft protection and prevention measures such as keeping anti-virus software up to date will continue to be important. Many banks have offered customers more identity theft protection tools to safeguard electronic and traditional banking. Financial institutions are increasingly investing in identity fraud protection and monitoring software to detect account access and payment anomalies, as well as in consumer education efforts and customer complaint resolution services.

The 2010 Identity Fraud Survey Report was conducted using telephone interviews with more than 5,000 U.S. consumers to identify and track the methods used by criminals and the impact of identity theft on American consumers and businesses. Almost 4,800 U.S. adults, including 487 victims of identity theft, were surveyed.

Law enforcement had greater success in 2009 than in previous years using identity theft information provided by consumers, banks and credit card providers to detect, catch and convict criminals.

Increased vigilance by consumers, businesses and government agencies appear to be having an impact on the problem of identity theft. Many organizations, especially banks and financial institutions have started offering identity theft information monitoring services, which detect account access anomalies, in most cases offering these services free to customers. Mobile banking solutions allow financial account monitoring, alerting customers in near-real-time of account activity and possible fraud. These partnerships and increased activism on the behalf of consumers resulted in consumer out of pocket costs dropping to an all-time low of $373 in 2009.

Even more importantly, an increase in the number of victims who filed police reports resulted in a larger number of arrests, prosecutions and convictions in 2009. The Javelin survey determined that efforts to protect identity theft information and data by individuals and businesses have helped in resolving cases more quickly and have reduced the overall costs to the consumer. The average resolution time for identity theft cases fell by 30% in 2009.

The survey reinforced the idea that consumers can play a key role in preventing, detecting and resolving identity fraud committed against them. The report found that more consumers are pursuing legal action, with nearly 50 percent of all victims filing police reports. Increased consumer awareness of available identity theft information and resources has empowered consumers to fight back, leading to more arrests, prosecutions and convictions. More consumers than ever before are actively monitoring their credit and financial accounts for suspicious activity and fraud and are acting faster when identity theft is detected.

Among other things, the study found that:

• In 2009, more victims of identity theft were likely to have filed a police report, resulting in an increase in arrests and convictions of identity theft and identity theft related crime. Victims became more vigilant in reporting identity theft crimes, which resulted in an arrest rate double that of 2008, and a prosecution rate that tripled in comparison with the previous year.

• There is an indication that law enforcement has had greater success using identity theft information provided by consumers, banks and credit card providers to detect, catch and convict criminals.

• Banks have offered customers more tools to safeguard electronic and traditional banking, investing in identity fraud monitoring, software designed to detect account access and payment anomalies, and complaint resolution and education services, in many cases offering these services free to customers.

• Consumers are increasingly aware of e-mail scams such as “phishing.”, and less likely to respond to e-mail requests for personal information.

• The use of mobile devices allows consumers to review and report identity theft in close to “real-time,” which may result in lower victim costs and faster incident detection times.

The 2010 Identity Fraud Survey Report was conducted using telephone interviews with more than 5,000 U.S. consumers to identify and track the methods used by criminals and the impact of identity theft on American consumers and businesses. Almost 4,800 U.S. adults, including 487 victims of identity theft, were surveyed.

Although the overall number of incidents of ID theft increased by 12% over the previous year according to the most recent study by Javelin Strategy & Research (The 2010 Identity Fraud Survey Report – www.javelinstrategy.com), during the same time period, the average consumer’s costs related to each incident of ID theft decreased sharply.

ID theft reached its highest level of incidence, affecting over 11 million Americans for the year 2009. During 2009 however, there was a sharp drop in the costs to consumers associated with the crime. Due to a decrease in the average time taken to resolve ID theft cases, an increased awareness by the public of the crime of ID theft and greater support offered by financial institutions, consumer support organizations, law enforcement organizations and personnel, resulted in consumer out of pocket costs reaching an all-time low of $373 in 2009, a reduction of 25% over the previous year.

Some of the reasons for the drop in costs:

•    In 2009, more victims of ID theft were likely to have filed a police report, resulting in an increase in arrests and convictions of ID theft and ID theft related crime. Victims became more vigilant in reporting ID theft crimes, which resulted in an arrest rate double that of 2008, and a prosecution rate that tripled in comparison with the previous year.
•    There is an indication that law enforcement has had greater success using information provided by consumers, banks and credit card providers to detect, catch and convict criminals.
•    With the exception of consumers aged 18 – 24 (the so-called “Millenials”), many consumers are more likely to  monitor financial accounts regularly and take advantage of monitoring programs offered by financial institutions or to install protective computer software on their home computers. Although “millenials” lag behind other groups in detecting fraud before or soon after it occurs, they lead other age groups in using technology to resolve identity fraud quickly.
•    Consumers are reaping the benefits from increased protections offered by financial institutions, businesses and government agencies.
•    Banks have offered customers more tools to safeguard electronic and traditional banking, investing in identity fraud monitoring, intelligent fraud engines to detect account access and payment anomalies, and complaint resolution and education services, in many cases offering these services free to customers.
•    Consumers are increasingly aware of e-mail scams such as “phishing.”, and less likely to respond to e-mail requests for personal information.
•    The use of mobile devices allows consumers to review and report ID theft in close to “real-time,” which may result in lower victim costs and faster incident detection times.

The 2010 Identity Fraud Survey Report was conducted using telephone interviews with more than 5,000 U.S. consumers to identify and track the methods used by criminals and the impact of ID theft on American consumers and businesses. Almost 4,800 U.S. adults, including 487 victims of ID theft, were surveyed.

Without a doubt, consumers play a key role in preventing, detecting and resolving ID theft . While technology is helping consumers to monitor, detect and resolve identity fraud, consumers should remain vigilant about safeguarding their personal information both on-line and off.