The Facts

Identity Theft is the fastest growing crime in America, affecting approximately 900,000 new victims each year! The United States was the top country of origin for ID Theft, accounting for 33% of worldwide attack activity. 86% of the credit card and debit cards advertised for sale on underground and illegal economy servers were issued by banks in the US. The government accounted for 25% of all identity theft related data breaches, more than any other sector. 51% of all underground economy servers were located in the US. 46% of all known phishing web sites were located in the US. The US has the largest proportion of spam zombies. On average, victims spend 175+ hours and $1,000's in out-of-pocket expenses to clear their names. (Privacy Rights Clearinghouse and FTC)

According to Javelin Strategy and Research's, "2006 Identity Fraud Report," released in conjunction with the Better Business Bureau, and as a follow-up to the 2003 FTC "Identity Theft Survey Report," in the past 8 years approximately 45.5 million American consumers became victims of Identity Theft. Every year the cost for getting your life back on track has risen, reaching an all time high, in 2006, of $6,383 per victim and a mean time of 40 hours of work in order to resolve the fraud issues.

According to the Federal Trade Commissions Identity Theft Survey Report, approximately 10 million American consumers discovered that their personal information had been used to open fraudulent bank, credit card, or utility accounts, or used to commit other crimes.

More than 50 percent of identity theft victims were the victims of credit card and other types of account fraud. New account fraud, where an ID thief opens up new accounts in your name, and other frauds were estimated to have victimized 3.23 million people.

Approximately 28 percent of Identity Theft victims whose theft experience involved the misuse of an existing credit card said that their credit cards had either been lost or stolen.

• Identity Theft costs almost $53 billion. The total loss to business and individual victims for all types of reported identity theft--both new account and existing account frauds is almost $53 billion dollars annually. More specifically, business victims experienced a total loss of $47.5 billion or an average of $4,800 per business victim per year. Individual victims account for a total loss of $5 billion and $500 per victim annually.
• Americans spent 300 million hours resolving issues related to identity theft. Between individual and business identity theft victims--an average of 30 - 60 hours per victim was spent on handling various matters related to identity theft including new accounts, existing account and other frauds.
• Victims know the thieves who steal their precious name. In over 25 percent of reported identity theft cases, the victims know or are related to the identity thief. Think twice about the people you share personal information with.
• Most identity theft cases start in the workplace. Studies show that up to 70 percent of all identity theft cases are an inside job--perpetrated by a co-worker or an employee of a business that you patronize. Perhaps the greatest surprise is that a large number of the identities were stolen not by an employee -- but by the business owner.

And it is just getting worse...

Use our web based program to help expedite Identity Theft issues on your credit reports by using the Federal Trade Commission's (FTC) ID Theft Affidavit documents and other ID Theft solutions. Our automated ID Theft Credit Resolution program dramatically reduces the time and money you will have to spend should you become, yet another, statistic of this life altering crime.

What is an Identity Theft Report?

An Identity Theft Report can be used to permanently block fraudulent information from appearing on your credit report. An Identity Theft Report will also make sure these debts do not reappear on your credit report. An Identity Theft Report can prevent a company from continuing to collect debts that result from identity theft, or selling them to others for collection. It's also needed to place an extended fraud alert on your credit report.

What is a Fraud Alert?

There are two types of fraud alerts: an initial alert, and an extended alert.

• An initial alert stays on your credit report for at least 90 days. You may ask that an initial fraud alert be placed on your credit report if you suspect you have been, or are about to be, a victim of identity theft. An initial alert is appropriate if your wallet has been stolen or if you've been taken in by a "phishing" scam. When you place an initial fraud alert on your credit report, you're entitled to order one free credit report from each of the three nationwide consumer reporting companies, and, if you ask, only the last four digits of your Social Security number will appear on your credit reports.
• An extended alert stays on your credit report for seven years. You can have an extended alert placed on your credit report if you've been a victim of identity theft and you provide the consumer reporting company with an Identity Theft Report. When you place an extended alert on your credit report, you're entitled to two free credit reports within twelve months from each of the three nationwide consumer reporting companies. In addition, the consumer reporting companies will remove your name from marketing lists for pre-screened credit offers for five years unless you ask them to put your name back on the list before then.

To place either of these alerts on your credit report, or to have them removed, you will be required to provide appropriate proof of your identity: that may include your Social Security number, name, address and other personal information requested by the consumer reporting company.

When a business sees the alert on your credit report, they must verify your identity before issuing you credit. As part of this verification process, the business may try to contact you directly. This may cause some delays if you're trying to obtain credit. To compensate for possible delays, you may wish to include a cell phone number, where you can be reached easily, in your alert. Remember to keep all contact information in your alert current.

Victims of Identity Theft

Every day, all over the country, identity victims find themselves:

• Being arrested
• Denied earned entitlements
• Passed over for promotions
• Not getting hired or getting fired
• Not getting insurance
• Paying higher life, health and auto insurance premiums

These issues can take months or years and thousands of dollars to sort out. But, you no longer need to fight alone. 45CREDIT.com is available right now to help you fight the war.