More Than 1 Million Children Fall Victim To Identity Fraud In 2017

More than 1 million children in the United States fell victim to identity fraud in 2017, an American advisory firm said Tuesday. Javelin Strategy & Research, a research-based advisory firm that offers consulting business, said about 39 percent of children became victims of fraud

SAN FRANCISCO, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 25th Apr, 2018 ) :More than 1 million children in the United States fell victim to identity fraud in 2017, an American advisory firm said Tuesday.

Javelin Strategy & Research, a research-based advisory firm that offers consulting business, said about 39 percent of children became victims of fraud, compared with 19 percent of notified adults.

It has caused total losses of 2.6 billion U.S. Dollars and over 540 million dollars in out-of-pocket costs to families. More than 60 percent of child identity fraud victims personally know the perpetrator, while only seven percent of adult victims of fraud know their victimizer, the company said by referring to statistics from its online survey of 5,000 adult individuals in 2017.

Two-thirds of these children are under the age of eight, and many of these perpetrators have legitimate access to the personal information of victims, it said.

The advisory firm found that minors who are bullied online are over nine times more likely to be victims of fraud than minors who were not.

"In many cases, fraud and bullying are not perpetrated by the same individual but arise from the same underlying vulnerabilities," said Al Pascual, senior vice president of research and head of fraud and security at the company.

On average, fraudsters were able to steal 2,303 dollars when they misused the identity of a minor, more than twice the mean fraud amount for adult fraud victims, and the families of child identity fraud victims paid an average of 541 dollars out of pocket, according to the company.

It urged adults living with minors to better protect private data and identity of their children in the digital world, and keep a close watch on banking statements and their children's online financial activities.