ID Fraud All About Stolen Wallets? No Way!

CNet headlines, “ID fraud up, but low-tech methods still prevalent.”

Counter intuitive?

You Betcha!

“Despite the hefty blame  — largely perpetuated by the media — placed on the internet and cybercrime, online identity theft methods (phishing, hacking and malware) only accounted for 11 percent of fraud cases in 2008,” claims Javelin. “The truth is, most known cases of fraud occur through traditional methods, when a criminal has direct, physical access to the victim’s information.”

Damn you media! It’s time to stop this incessant hyping of the data breaches that have compromised information on hundreds of millions of consumers. Obviously, stolen wallets are the real epidemic.

But the 11 percent stat crumbles on even a casual inspection. That’s because it’s from a sub-sample of victims  who know how their information  was stolen. The fine print in the report reveals that the vast majority — 65 percent of identity theft victims surveyed — have no idea how their data was lost, and so they weren’t included in the chart.

What does Javelin think is in that giant black slice of pie? Garbage theft? Psychics gone bad? Or might it have something to do with the hackers and cashiers who keep getting caught with magstripe encoders, stolen credit card data and Hefty bags filled with cash stuffed in their closets?