Identity Crime: An Overview
- Identity crime results from crimes committed utilizing personal identifiers that have been stolen, compromised, altered, or synthetic (not based on an actual person’s identity) and are not related to the initial theft of an identity.
- Approximately nine million people in the United States were victims of identify crime in 2005 (Better Business Bureau, 2006).
- Compounding this already complex issue, barely one-third of identity crime victims contacted police.
- Identity crime can facilitate larger criminal enterprises -- including terrorist, drug, and gang activities (Federal Trade Commission, 2006) – and other criminal activity.
- Identity crime is a complicated issue often involving differing legal jurisdictions. For a compendium of state identity theft statutes, please visit the National Conference of State Legislatures. Further, several federal agencies maintain investigative responsibilities.
- Identity crime has far reaching consequences for its victims. To see how identity crime impacts your state, click here.
- Learn more with our “Identity Crime Toolkit for Police Executives (16.2 MB)”
To obtain hard copies of ID Safety Toolkits, please download, print and submit Order Form. You can send your comments to the project staff using Feedback Form.
