Big ID Thefts Not To Be Feared

goldseries writes "A new study released by ID Analytics says that only about 1 out of every 1000 stolen identities are actually used, due to the amount of time it takes to use the identity, limiting a single thief to 250 identities a year. The likelihood that your information will be used increases drastically when the size a the theft is small. So size does not matter, in identity thefts at least; the identity thefts you need to worry about aren't the big ones heard on the news but the small unreported ones." From the article: "While the findings will provide some comfort to consumers whose credit cards are lost or lifted, or whose sensitive information is compromised when, for instance, a laptop is stolen, as recently happened at Chicago-based Boeing, some of ID Analytics' suggestions could be controversial. The company suggests, for instance, that companies shouldn't always notify consumers of data breaches because they may be unnecessarily alarming people who stand little chance of being victimized."

Comments

Re:Nice whitewash...

[Godeke]

Having known those who suffered identity theft, I don't need an article to imply this. It takes five years before you can even *start* to breath easier: the first two are full of collection agencies attempting to recover on the "bad debt" in your name. Unlike other businesses who have to stop calling if you ask, collection agencies are exempt from do not call requirements. Attempting to purchase anything major becomes impossible because the three major companies still report your credit as bad, but "contested". They *don't* strike the charges completely off your record. Meanwhile, the company that fumbled the ball claims "we have done what we can" by sending a letter to the credit companies saying that the charger "may" be related to identity theft.

You end up carrying police reports and your own copy of the credit report, annotated to indicate the problem when trying to buy a car. But it doesn't help because the lacky who is the "loan officer" for the dealership has no real power to make a decision. You receive "mechanics leans" on your property and have to fight repeatedly to not lose ownership of perperty you already owned because of state laws (at least here in Arizona) that allow a mechanic to force the sale of property to pay for "services rendered". Even if the services were rendered to a crook instead of you, they are not barred from trying until you sue them into submission.

All while the company that screwed up claims that they are faultless because they sent three letters out, and that perhaps "there are other issues here".