With incidents of identity fraud climbing for the second year in a row, Hartford insurer Travelers Cos. is warning consumers that low-tech theft is the most common entry to this 21st-century crime.
Travelers says that despite recent headlines and growing fears about online security and data breaches, Â Â burglary and theft of wallets, purses and personal computers provide thieves the best opportunity to gain access to personal information.
In instances where the victim knew their identity had been stolen, it was the result of personal property being stolen nearly 78 percent of the time, Travelers said, citing a study of its identity-fraud claims data.
Travelers identifies the following as the top known causes of identity fraud:
- 78 percent – burglary and theft of wallet/purse/personal identification/computer
- 14 percent – online or data breach
- 5 percent – change of address/postal fraud
- 3 percent – lost credit card and other miscellaneous causes
What do thieves do with the information once they have it? More than 75 percent of the time, criminals use the information to open new credit card accounts or use the existing credit cards to make charges, Traveler said. Twenty percent of identity thieves will withdraw money from existing checking, savings and online accounts and 16 percent open utility accounts in the victim’s name, the insurer said.
“Our data indicates that identity fraud can happen to anyone at any time. Thieves don’t discriminate. They prefer crimes of opportunity,” said Joe Reynolds, Travelers’ identity fraud product manager.
Reynolds recommends taking a proactive approach to protecting personal identities by guarding social security numbers and financial information and shredding documents like receipts, credit/insurance applications and bank statements.
