Identity Theft Continues To Increase!

Identity theft continues to increase, according to a new study from the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), which looked at the frequency with which identity theft was named as a cause for concern by financial institutions filing suspicious activity reports (SARs) from January 1, 2003 through December 30, 2009. While the total number of filings rose 89 percent over the period, identity-theft related filings rose 123 percent. "Credit card fraud was the most frequently co-reported suspicious activity...appearing in over 45.5 percent of sample filings," according to the FinCEN Identity-theft report. The victim knew the thief in 27.5 percent of the cases. Victims self-discovered 28 percent of the thefts; banks were credited with finding another 21 percent through account monitoring