How much is your identity worth these days? The going rate for a “complete” identity (including name, address, passport, credit card info, driver’s license number, and even banking passwords): About 120 bucks.
And guess what? The average identity theft-based fraud actually reaps over $21,000 for the perpetrator.
Why so cheap? Primarily it’s because there are so many stolen identities available, so crooks who are willing to take the risk on using someone else’s identity to drain bank accounts and run up bills have a vast number of IDs to choose from. In a perverse way that’s good news: Even if your account and identity information is compromised, there’s a good chance that you won’t actually be the victim of a financial crime because the ID may never be used.
Unfortunately, many consumers make it easy for ID thieves. Related security stats uncovered by Get Safe Online are staggering: 48 percent of internet users who have antivirus protection don’t keep it up to date, 47 percent don’t use any sort of anti-phishing software, and 20 percent use one password for all internet accounts.
There are steps you can take to mitigate identity theft. Check out all the resources at mysecurepc.com.
