How Common is Identity Theft by Someone You Know?

When we think about identity theft, most of us picture someone we don’t know stealing our information from our mailbox or an online source or a faceless person hacking an entire system and gaining access to personal information.

What if this faceless, unknown person was someone you knew or even someone who lives in your house?

“Familiar fraud" occurs when a friend, extended family member or even a spouse, child or parent uses a close relationship for his or her own financial gain.”

What's the Cost of Identity Theft?

Identity thieves stole almost $17 billion in 2017. Although this figure is an unfathomable amount for most of us, it is merely the amount of actual money stolen and doesn’t take into consideration things like “time spent resolving identity theft issues and the emotional and psychological stresses caused by identity theft.”

“Since 2003, the Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC) has been surveying victims of identity theft to understand things like how long it takes them to find out they're a victim, what they experience, how long it takes them to fix the issues caused by identity theft and how much money it costs them to recover.

Is it Safe To Give Out My Credit Card's Security Code?

With identity theft being the number one consumer complaint for several years running, it begs the question of whether anyone is safe regardless if we give out our credit card’s security code.

“MasterCard started issuing in 1997 and Visa in the United States issued them by 2001. American Express started to use the CSC in 1999 in response to growing internet transactions.”