Writer: Andrew Allen
Editor: Ashley Fricker
Reviewer: Adam West
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Anyone who’s ever been a victim of identity theft knows what a hassle it can be. Even if you don’t end up losing a big sum of money as a result of identity theft, simply dealing with any issues that it causes can be stressful and take up a significant amount of your time.
Consumers can make a lot of different moves to help prevent having their identity stolen. But even a person who minds all their p’s and q’s when it comes to safeguarding their financial information can fall victim to identity theft.
Learning more about identity theft can help equip you to better recognize and avoid risky situations that could lead to your financial information being compromised.
And simply staying one step ahead of scammers can be a big benefit, because you don’t want to unwittingly hand a stranger the keys to your financial life. Here are 20 eye-opening statistics about identity theft.
1. Identify Fraud Losses Top $27 Billion
Stealing someone’s identity carries risks for a thief, but — if they don’t get caught right off the bat — it can unfortunately also bring them rewards. In 2025, losses due to traditional identity fraud came in at $27.3 billion1.
That figure represents a slight increase over 2024’s $27.2 billion, but it’s a much bigger rise over identity fraud loss numbers from 2022 and 2023, which were $20.3 billion and $22.8 billion, respectively.
The amount of money lost due to identity fraud has risen each year since 2022, but it did decline by $3.5 billion from 2021 to 2022.
| Year | Identity Fraud Losses (in Billions) |
|---|---|
| 2021 | $23.8 |
| 2022 | $20.3 |
| 2023 | $22.8 |
| 2024 | $27.2 |
| 2025 | $27.3 |
2. 18 Million Adults in America Experienced Identity Fraud Losses in 2025
People who haven’t had a thief steal — or even attempt to steal their identity — may feel that it’s something that couldn’t ever happen to them, but fraud losses can be more common than you’d think. In 2025, 18 million adults in the U.S. were victims of identity fraud1.
If you were fortunate enough to sidestep fraud losses last year, chances are you know somebody who wasn’t. In the U.S., 6.9% of consumers fell victim to fraud in 2025, according to Javelin.
The share of people who experienced fraud last year increased slightly over 2024’s figure of 6.8% and even more over 2023’s 5.7%, suggesting that fraud is on the rise in the U.S.
3. Consumers Spend More Than 10 Hours, on Average, Resolving Identity Fraud Issues
Criminals who look to steal your identity can rob you of more than just your money. They can also take time away from you. On average, consumers spent 10.4 hours in 2025 tending to issues that sprang up as a result of identity fraud1.
That’s a significant amount of time identity-theft victims had to spend to get their financial lives back in order. And it’s even more alarming when you consider that many consumers had to devote much more than 10.4 hours to make that number the average.
People who were victims of either account takeover or new-account fraud spent more time resolving their issues than people who experienced other types of fraud.
4. Greater Than 25% of Victims of Identity Crimes Manage 2 or More Incidents at Once
Being the victim of an identity crime can cause a headache or two, but the damage can be much greater for people who have to deal with more than one such incident at the same time.
A report from the Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC) shows that greater than 1 in 4 victims of identity crimes dealt with two or more incidents concurrently2. The ITRC numbers are based on people who contacted the center from April 1, 2025, to March 31, 2026.
While 13.6% had exactly two to manage, 5.9% had three incidents on their plates, and 6.1% had four or more to handle. Overall, the share of people facing multi-layered crises went up 2.1 percentage points compared with the prior reporting period.
5. Unauthorized Access to Devices Grew By 78% Year Over Year
Some who fall victim to identity theft may have no idea how a criminal was able to get hold of their personal information. But others who suspect that someone may have accessed their computer or mobile device without their permission may have a big clue to how their data was compromised.
Unauthorized access to digital devices, such as computers and mobile phones, grew by a whopping 78% in recent year-over-year data from the ITRC2. Unauthorized access to devices now accounts for 27.2% of all identity compromises. That figure is up from the prior reporting period’s mark of 15.3%.
6. Only 9% of Victims Who Have a Financial Loss Report Reaching a Resolution
One of the first questions someone who loses money to an identity theft scam may ask themselves is whether they’ll ever be able to get those funds back. Unfortunately, the answer to that question isn’t likely the one they were hoping to hear.
Just 9% of people who faced financial losses from identity crimes said they were able to reach a resolution with their cases2. The rate dropped to 0% for victims who experienced three or more financial impacts, the ITRC reported.
On the somewhat brighter side, slightly more than half (53%) of people who didn’t suffer a financial loss reported that they were able to reach a resolution.
7. 36.1% of Compromises Stem From Sharing Personal Information
Although some people may not be doing enough to prevent criminals from accessing their computer or mobile phone, they may be more tight-lipped when it comes to sharing personal information that could lead to a scam.
While 43.1% of scams involved the sharing of personal information during the previous reporting period, only 36.1% of scams involved the same from April 1, 2025, to March 31, 20262.
Though the new figure constitutes a drop, sharing personal information still led to more compromises than unauthorized device access (27.2%) and incidents where a physical item was stolen (16.4%). The types of personal information that scammers may look to get out of people they target for scams include account credentials, basic identity information, and biometric identifiers.
8. The FTC Received More Than 1.13 Million Reports of Identity Theft in 2024
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) fielded more than 1.13 million reports of identity theft in 2024, which is the most recent year the federal agency published its Consumer Sentinel Network Data Book. The Consumer Sentinel Network is a secure online database that only members of law enforcement have access to.
The approximately 1.13 million reports for identity theft account for more than 17.5% of all consumer reports the Consumer Sentinel Network took in for the year3. And identity theft was the second most common category among those reports, with the category for “Credit Bureaus and Information Furnishers” taking the top spot with roughly 1.35 million reports.
9. More Than 449,000 Identity Theft Reports Were Related to Credit Cards
Of the close to 1.13 million identity theft reports in the most recent Consumer Sentinel Network Data Book, 449,032 were related to credit cards3. That’s more than any other type in the category for identity theft, including theft reports related to loans or leases, bank accounts, or government benefits.
Identity theft related to a credit card can consist of using someone else’s personal information to open a credit card account or to alter their existing card account without their permission.
The fact that credit cards are widely used in many locations around the world and that card information can be used remotely contributes to the numerous instances of card-related fraud.
10. 1 in 4 Survey Respondents Considered Harming Themselves After Experiencing Identity Theft or Fraud
People can lose both money and time when their identities are stolen. But the frustration they feel after being victimized by a scammer can also cause other negative outcomes.
The Identity Theft Resource Center said that around 25% of consumer respondents to a recent survey reported that they had “seriously considered self-harm” as a method of dealing with fraud, identity theft, or a scam4.
The ITRC issued that figure in 2025, and noted that it represented an increase of 20 percentage points over prior-year data in the share of people who said they’d considered self-harm in response to an identity crime.
11. 11% of People Who Reported Losses to the ITRC Said They Lost More Than $1 Million
It can be disconcerting to lose any amount of money to a scam, but some people have lost considerably more than others. Findings from the ITRC indicate that more than 20% of victims who reached out to the nonprofit after suffering an identity crime said they lost more than $100,0004.
And another 11% said their losses surpassed $1 million. Fortunately, not everyone who’s victimized by an identity scam loses a substantial amount.
Of those who contacted ITRC following a 2025 identity crime, 27% lost less than $500. And another 26% lost more than $500 but less than $5,000.
12. 68% of Consumers Cite Identity Theft as Their Chief Online Security Concern
The financial losses and emotional toll that being a victim of identity theft brings can wear on people so much that just the idea of identity theft is enough to frighten some consumers.
According to Experian, 68% of respondents to a survey singled out identity theft as their single-greatest online security concern5. The respondents’ concern over identity theft increased with their age.
Of respondents who were ages 55 to 69 at the time of the survey, 83% said identity theft was a concern. That percentage shrank to 66% for people ages 40 to 54 and 53% for those ages 25 to 39. The least concerned age group was those aged 18 to 24. Identity theft was a concern for just 43% of those individuals.
13. Consumers in the 55-69 Age Range are the Least Willing to Share Personal Data
Sharing your personally identifiable information with someone you don’t trust could leave you vulnerable to having your identity stolen. As such, it may not come as a surprise that Experian found that 55 to 69-year-olds were not too eager to share their personal data5.
Only 4% of 55 to 69-year-olds said they were “very willing” to take that step. And 18% of those respondents — more than any other age category — said they were “not at all willing”. The age group that said they were very willing to share personal data, more than any other, was 25-39 years old, at 28%.
Of course, consumers who are in their late 20s or 30s haven’t had as much time to be targeted by a criminal looking to steal their identity, so their relative openness to sharing personal data could potentially decrease over time.
14. Florida Has More Reports of Identity Theft Per 100K People Than Any Other State
Florida, home to Walt Disney World, numerous beaches, and even more retirees, is also the state with the most reports of identity theft per 100,000 people, according to FTC data3. The Sunshine State had 528 reports per 100,000 people in a recent year.
Interestingly, Florida’s neighbor to the north, Georgia, was also nearby in the rankings. The Peach State came in second with 517 reports per 100,000 people. Rounding out the top five were Nevada, Texas, and Delaware.
California, with its 139,665 reports of identity theft, had the most overall. Texas and Florida had the second- and third-most total reports.
15. South Dakota Has the Fewest Reports of Identity Theft Per 100K Population
While the state with the most reports of identity theft per 100,000 people sits in the deep south, the one with the fewest is one of the northernmost states in the U.S.: South Dakota.
The state had only 94 reports of identity theft per 100,000 people in 2024, but it didn’t have the lowest number of reports overall3. That distinction belongs to Vermont, with 651 reports, or 139,014 fewer than the state with the most overall reports, California.
In addition to South Dakota and Vermont, other states with the fewest reports per 100,000 people include Alaska, West Virginia, and North Dakota.
16. Miami Leads U.S. Metropolitan Areas in Incidents of Identity Theft
With Florida having more reports of identity theft per 100,000 people, it should come as no surprise that two of its metropolitan areas appear in the top five. The metropolitan statistical area for Miami, Fort Lauderdale, and West Palm Beach had a whopping 903 reports of identity theft per 100,000 population3.
| Metropolitan Statistical Area | Total Identity Theft Reports |
|---|---|
| Miami-Ft. Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL | 55,457 |
| Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA | 42,616 |
| Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX | 41,668 |
The second-highest spot, Georgia’s Atlanta, Sandy Springs, and Roswell area, had more than 200 fewer reports per 100,000 people than Miami, with 690. Other spots in the top five for this category include Houston, Las Vegas, and Orlando and their surrounding areas.
In terms of the overall number of reports, the metropolitan area comprising Los Angeles, Long Beach, and Anaheim led all others with more than 71,000 reports.
17. The IRS Flags More Than 2.1 Million Tax Returns For Issues Related to Identity Theft
In addition to banks and credit card companies, certain government agencies are also committed to stopping thieves from stealing your identity. In 2025, the Internal Revenue Service suspended more than 13 million individual tax returns. And more than 2.1 million of those returns were flagged due to the IRS’s filters for identity theft6.
When the IRS flags a tax return for identity theft, it issues a notice to the affected taxpayer informing them that they have to verify their identity and possibly correct any issues before the IRS will process their return or issue their refund, if one is due.
18. Identity Harm Driven by Artificial Intelligence Affects 19%
New research suggests that criminals are harnessing the power of artificial intelligence to steal or otherwise damage people’s identities. The company said in its findings that people’s deepest fears over the technology center on AI-driven identity harm.
Approximately 19% of respondents to a recent survey had experienced some sort of harm to their identity that stemmed from AI7. For members of Gen Z — or those who were born sometime from 1997 to 2012 — that figure soars to 30%. Furthermore, 50% of respondents reported having already experienced AI-related fraud or scams in some form.
19. 85% Say That It’s Now More Difficult to Tell if Something is a Scam or Legitimate
The adage “seeing is believing” is no longer as true as it once was. Thanks in part to the rise of AI deepfake videos and technology that can closely match someone’s voice, 85% of survey respondents say it’s tougher to determine if something is a scam or not these days, up from just 66% in the prior year7.
In line with those numbers, 84% said that convincing video evidence no longer feels “like proof.” To combat deepfakes, people can come up with a code phrase or secret word to exchange with people, such as close members of their family, to confirm one another’s identities and avoid being deceived.
20. More Than 7 Out of 10 Business Leaders Point to AI-Generated Fraud as a Top Concern
The ability of criminals to use artificial intelligence to help them steal or otherwise harm someone’s identity isn’t something that only bothers consumers. It can keep business leaders up at night as well.
Seventy-two percent of leaders in the business world expect deepfakes and fraud generated by AI to be one of their top operational challenges in 20265. But business leaders can fight fire with fire by employing AI to help them combat fraud, a step some businesses have already taken.
An estimated 37% of businesses are using generative AI to not only detect but also protect against fraud.
A Few Simple Steps Can Help Protect Against Identity Theft
Reading statistics about identity theft may leave you feeling concerned about whether you’re a target for scammers. That’s not a bad place to be, because it may motivate you to adopt habits that can help thwart a criminal who’s trying to steal your personal information.
Simple steps, such as keeping your Social Security card and other important documents in a safe location, can go a long way in helping ensure your information doesn’t fall into the wrong hands. Consumers also shouldn’t share their personal information with people they don’t trust.
Regularly reviewing statements from your bank and credit card issuer can allow you to spot any unusual activity. And monitoring your credit report can also help to uncover signs of identity theft.
Data Sources
1. https://javelinstrategy.com/whitepapers/2026-identity-fraud-study-illusion-progress
2. https://www.idtheftcenter.org/post/2026-trends-in-identity-report-hacked-devices-overtake-scams/
3. https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/ftc_gov/pdf/csn-annual-data-book-2024.pdf
4. https://www.idtheftcenter.org/post/2025-consumer-impact-report-financial-emotional-impacts-rise/
5. https://www.experian.com/content/dam/marketing/na/thought-leadership/business/documents/2025-identity-and-fraud-report.pdf
6. https://www.taxpayeradvocate.irs.gov/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/JRC26_FullReport.pdf
7. https://www.malwarebytes.com/press/2026/06/10/new-malwarebytes-research-reveals-how-ai-is-reshaping-trust-scams-and-identity-theft
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