By Sarah Borchersen-Keto, CCH Washington Staff Writer

Most identity thieves still obtain their information through traditional rather than electronic means, a new survey co-released January 26, 2004, by Javelin Strategy & Research and the Better Business Bureau claims. The report is being issued as a follow-up to the Federal Trade Commission's 2003 Identity Theft Survey Report.

According to the report, which surveyed 4,000 U.S. consumers in cases where the method of theft was known, 68.2 percent of information was obtained off-line through methods including lost or stolen wallets, misappropriation by family and friends, and theft of paper mail.

The report also noted that the mean loss of funds resulting from "phishing," or criminals posing as legitimate businesses, was $2,320. Compare that to the mean loss of $15,607 resulting from misappropriation by family and friends, or the mean loss of $9,243 caused by the theft of paper mail.

"Our numbers show that fears about online identity fraud may be out of proportion to the relative risk, causing consumers to ignore the most glaring issues," said James Van Dyke, Javelin's founder and principal analyst. "Indeed, most instances of identity fraud occur through traditional channels and are paper-based, not Internet-based," he said.

The total U.S. identity fraud cost remains essentially unchanged since 2003 at $52.6 billion. The report also states that 9.3 million individuals became victims of identity theft over the past 12 months, compared with 10.1 million in 2003.

Meanwhile, the majority of identity fraud crimes are self-detected, the report adds, which reinforces the benefits of activity monitoring through electronic review of transactions, statements, and credit reports.

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