H D T E C N I R A C P L X E E

R Financial S E A M I C T H C A L L V I

Financial and economic —including and identity —cost American individuals and businesses billions of dollars every year, and take a significant emotional toll as well as financial. Financial fraud occurs when someone uses deception or misrepresentation for financial gain. Financial fraud includes, but is not limited to: mortgage or healthcare fraud, romance scams, sweepstakes, and Internet scams. is related to the misuse of personal information, most often to gain access to an individual’s credit card, bank account, or other personal information. Measuring the extent of financial crime is complicated, in part due to the many different reporting options available to victims. Some victims report to law enforcement, some report online to government agencies such as the Federal Trade Commission, and others report to multiple places or do not report the crime at all. No matter the reporting agency or response mechanisms, financial recovery is often limited.A,B

CRIME TRENDS The Consumer Sentinel is a database of consumer complaints made to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) that law enforcement can access to investigate fraud, identity theft, and other types of financial crimes. Prior to 2015, the most common type of consumer complaint reported to the FTC was fraud. In 2015, however, the most common complaint changed to “other,” a category that includes debt collection, funeral services, auto-related scams, and education scams. While the total number of complaints has continued to increase every year, it is unknown whether the growing volume indicates a rise in fraud or an increase in reporting.

Complaints Reported to the FTC by TypeC DID YOU KNOW? in thousands of complaints 1800 1600 77% of consumers who file a fraud complaint were 18002,000,000 1400 contacted by the fraudulent company via phone.C

1600 Thousands Fraud 1200 1,357 1400 Households with annual incomes of $75,000 or Thousands 1000 1200 Identity theft 800 1,294 more are 2x as likely to experience identity theft as 1000 Other B 600 households making $24,999 or less. 800 400 600 1 in 10 identity theft victims reports experiencing 438 200 400 severe emotional distress, compared to 1 in 3 256 0 399 B 200 2005 2006 2007 victims2008 2009of violent 2010 crime.2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 216 0 Fraud Iden8ty The; Other 20052005 20062006 20072007 20082008 20092009 20102010 20112011 20122012 20132013 20142014 20152015 20162016

Fraud Iden8ty The; Other Complaints Reported to the IC3C

in thousands of complaints The Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3)—a 500 partnership between the FBI, National White Collar 450 500,000

500 Crime Center, and the Bureau of Assistance— 400 Thousands 450 collects complaints about crimes committed online. 350 299 400 Internet crime encompasses many different types 300 Thousands 231 350 of fraud, scams, hacking, and identity theft. The 250 300 IC3 analyzes commonalities among complaints 200 250 and alerts law enforcement and the public about 150 200 emerging Internet crime issues. In 2016, the IC3 100 150 received nearly 300,000 complaints. 50 100 0 20052005 20062006 20072007 20082008 20092009 20102010 20112011 20122012 20132013 20142014 20152015 20162016 50 0 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2018 National Crime Victims’ Rights Week Resource Guide: Crime and Victimization Fact Sheets

CURRENT DATA ON FINANCIAL CRIME

Victims of identity theft experience a wide variety of incidents such as: the misuse of existing credit card, bank, and other accounts; the creation of new accounts; and the misuse of personal information. In 2014, an estimated 7% of U.S. residents age 16 and older had experienced at least one identity theft incident in the past 12 months. Of those identity theft victims, 86% most recently experienced misuse of existing account information: 42% had existing credit card accounts misused and 38% had existing bank accounts misused­­.B

Percent of Population Experiencing One or More B Identity Theft Incidents Most Recent Type of Identity Theft Experienced by VictimsB in the last 12 months 50% 5% 41.7 40.3 38.3 2012 37.3 2012 3.4 2014 2014 3.2 3.1 3.0

0.7 7.0 5.6 0.6 4.1 3.9 0.5 0.4 0.3 0.3 3.8 3.1

Existing credit Existing bank Other existing New Personal Existing credit Existing bank Other existing New Personal card account account account account information card account account account account information

In 2016, over $1 billion in financial losses due to Internet crime were reported to the IC3. Of victims who reported their age, adults age 50 and older reported the highest percentage of losses (56%), totaling nearly $640 million.D

Financial Loss Reported to the IC3D by victim age, in millions of dollars

$400,000,000

Over 60 339.5

50–59 298.1

40–49 224.3

30–39 190.1

20–29 68.0 SOURCES A Javelin Strategy & Research, https://www.javelinstrategy.com/press-re- lease/identity-fraud-hits-record-high-154-million-us-victims-2016-16-per- Under 20 6.7 cent-according-new B Bureau of Justice Statistics, Victims of Identity Theft, 2014, (U.S. Depart- ment of Justice, 2015), https://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/vit14.pdf C Federal Trade Commission, Consumer Sentinel Network Data Book, January - December 2015, (2016), https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/documents/ reports/consumer-sentinel-network-data-book-january-december-2016/ csn_cy-2016_data_book.pdf D Internet Crime Complaint Center, 2011-2016 Internet Crime Reports, https://www.ic3.gov/media/annualreports.aspx