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Nowhere to Turn: Victims Speak Out on Identity Theft

NCJ Number
187874
Author(s)
Janine Benner; Beth Givens; Edmund Mierzwinski
Date Published
May 2000
Length
22 pages
Annotation
This report summarizes the findings of a detailed survey of 66 recent identity-theft complainants conducted in the spring of 2000, so as to illustrate the obstacles such victims face when trying to resolve their identity-theft cases.
Abstract
Identity theft occurs when someone invades a person's life by taking pieces of the person's identifying information as his/her own for the purpose of committing fraud, thus ruining the victim's financial reputation. Victims of this crime face extreme difficulties in attempting to clear the damaged credit and possibly the criminal record incurred by the thief. Key findings from this survey of such victims illustrate the obstacles victims face when trying to resolve their cases. Less than half of the respondents felt that their cases had been fully resolved, and those with unsolved cases had been dealing with the problem for an average of 4 years. Victims estimate that they spent an average of 175 hours and $808 in additional out-of-pocket costs to fix the problems that stemmed from identity theft. The data show the failure of law enforcement, government, and the credit industry to address the root causes of identity theft. By not changing their procedures, these stakeholders have both helped perpetuate identity theft and have made it difficult for victims to resolve their cases expeditiously. The authors recommend that credit bureaus be required to provide free credit reports annually on request; that victims as well as consumers be given the right to block access to their credit reports; that the matching of at least four points of identity be required between credit reports and credit applications; that address-change verification be improved; and that the "credit header" loophole be closed so that Social Security numbers cannot be sold on the information marketplace, including over the Internet.