Identity Theft Claimed 25 New Victims Every Minute in 2013

25 people fell victim to identity theft every minute in 2013, according to Javelin Strategy & Research.

The research firm reported an overall increase of more than 500,000 fraud victims to 13.1 million individuals last year, according to Help Net Security.

Account takeover fraud represented 28 per cent of all identity fraud and set an all-time record. People aged between 35 and 44 seem to be the most exposed to identity theft risk.

“The number of non-card fraud victims nearly tripled and it accounted for $5 billion in fraud,” the article said. “This fraud includes: compromised lines of credit, Internet accounts (e.g., eBay, Amazon) and email payment accounts such as PayPal.”

One out of three people who were notified about data breaches incidents became an identity fraud victim. The overall amount stolen by cyber-criminals decreased by $3 billion to $18 billion, as financial institutions, consumers and providers of identity theft protection took more aggressive measures.

The research was conducted on 5,634 US consumers in October 2013.