Identity Theft and Fraud Victimization

What Do We Know From Research and Practice?

January 17, 2019

Acknowledgements

This work was produced by the Center for Victim Research (CVR) under grant number 2016-XV-GX-K006, awarded by the Office for Victims of Crime, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice. The opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this presentation are those of the contributors and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.

• CVR is a one-stop resource for victim service providers and researchers to connect and share knowledge User-friendly website Library of victim research Directory of researchers

Free research TA State-of-the-field syntheses Fellowships, podcasts & more

• Partnership of researchers and practitioners

Presenters

• Hazel Heckers (not pictured)

• Alexandra Ricks (left) • Yasemin Irvin-

Erickson, PhD (right)

Road Map for Today’s Talk

• Reviewing research & practice: Why? How?• What are identity theft and fraud? • Who is at risk? • Harms & consequences• Interventions & services • Where does the field need to grow?• Discussion/questions

Reviewing Research & Practice

Goals of CVR’s Reviews

System• Assess state of the field in victimization response• Systematically synthesize the best available evidence

from research and practice• Help service providers and researchers understand

what the field needs

Goals of CVR’s Reviews (cont.)

System

Modified from: Puddy, R. W. & Wilkins, N. (2011). Understanding Evidence Part 1: Best Available Research Evidence. A Guide to the Continuum of Evidence of Effectiveness, CDC

CVR Syntheses

Best Available Research

What We Know from

Practice

Context of What We

Know

Reviewed 160 research articles

on fraud and identity theft

victims

Reviewed 251 practice sources

on fraud and identity theft

victims

Questions to Answer

1. How many victims? (prevalence)2. Risk factors?3. Harms and consequences?4. Interventions and victim services?5. Policy, practice, and research implications?

Audience Poll

Raise your hand if you or your organization work with victims of identity theft and fraud in any capacity?

Fraud Victimization

Photo credit: PowerPoint “Bing” search

Definition

Fraud refers to crimes in which deceptive or false acts are committed for personal gain.Identity fraud is a specific subcategory in which personally identifying information of others is used to commit fraud.

Note: We did not focus on identity theft, which is the theft (but not use of) personally identifying information (i.e., social security number).

Prevalence

• The Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) national fraud survey found that 9.2% of the US population fell victim to certain non-identity related frauds in 2011 (Anderson 2013)

• National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) data shows that 10% of the US population experienced identity fraud in 2016(Harrell 2019)

• According to NCVS, 19% of the US population experience identity fraud in their lifetime (Harrell 2019)

Challenges Assessing Prevalence

The true prevalence of identity fraud and other frauds is not entirely known due to:• Underreporting• Difficulty detecting

victimization• Definitional issues across

sources that hamper interpretation

Risk Factors Identity fraud and other frauds affect all groups, but certain traits are associated with vulnerability to specific fraud types:

Sources: FTC 2018, Langton and Planty, 2010, Synovate 2007, Rich 2016

• Immigrants: immigration-related scams

• Victims of domestic violence: identity fraud

• People with cognitive impairments: various scams and frauds

• Military personnel: identity fraud

• Older adults: non-identity frauds

• Children: identity fraud

• Latinx and Black people: common non-identity frauds

• Lower income individuals: debt relief frauds, prize scams, etc.

• High-income individuals: identity fraud (unauthorized use of existing accounts)

Harms and Consequences

Harms Faced by Fraud Victims

• Economic

• Health

• Social

• Legal

Four major categories of harms faced by fraud victims:

Photo credit: PowerPoint “Bing” search

Economic Harms • Victims often lose money to identity fraud and other frauds. In 2017,

victims lost an average amount of $500 to imposter scams, the most common fraud type (excluding identity fraud) (FTC 2018).

• Victims of housing-related frauds can lose the equity of their property and homes (Saunders, Pizor, and Twomey 2009).

• Identity fraud victims are at risk of damaged credit scores, which can create challenges finding employment, opening new loan or utility accounts, and passing background checks (ITRC 2017).

• A small portion (3%) of victims have problems 6+ months after initial victimization (Anderson 2007).

Health Harms

• Victims may experience strong emotional and trauma responses and fear of revictimization (NCVC and FINRA 2013).

• Fraud victims may also experience physical health problemssuch as trouble sleeping, headaches, and fatigue (ITRC 2017).

• Victims of medical identity theft can experience negative health outcomes from mistreatment or misdiagnosis (FTC 2017d).

Social and Legal Harms

• Identity fraud victims may face civil suits as a result of delinquent accounts in their names (Dixon 2006).

• Victims of criminal identity theft may face false arrests or criminal records (Anderson 2007).

• Victims can have reputational and relationship damage (ITRC 2017).

Services and Interventions

Photo credit: Shutterstock image

Prevention: Outreach and Education

Addressing psychological harms

Participating in justice processes

Participating in justice processes

• Very few evaluations on identity theft and fraud victim services focus on peer outreach and education.• Peer counseling and telephone messages to potential victims are promising

for decreasing vulnerability for fraud victimization (AARP 2003).

• Hotlines exist to connect victims to services and reporting agencies.

• People from traditionally underserved or high-risk groups (i.e. Older adults, non-English speakers) should be targeted for education about prevention and reporting (FTC 2007; O’Brien et al. 2012).

Remediating Financial Harms• Most services for fraud victims focus on remedying financial harms

and most are oriented towards victims of identity fraud.

• These services include (GAO 2017): • Identity Theft Insurance • Credit Monitoring• Identity Monitoring• Identity Restoration Assistance

• Many victims can recover with self-help materials but some special cases and victims require long-term, close follow up.

What Services Are Missing?• The field lacks generally services to remediate the harms of:

• Non-identity related frauds (i.e., foreclosure rescue scams)• Non-financial identity frauds (i.e., medical identity theft)

• Civil legal services can be crucial for victims’ financial recovery but are usually only provided by pro-bono legal service providers (Andres 2016).

• Few specific interventions exist to remediate fraud victims’ specific mental health and trauma needs.

Where the Field Needs to Grow

Photo credit: PowerPoint “Bing” search

Key Takeaways: ResearchIdentity fraud and other frauds are widespread and there is still need in the field for breaking down identity theft and fraud into smaller components. Harms can be long-lasting and extend beyond financial harmsThe victim services field needs more research on risk factors and outcomes for fraud victims, in particular:

• State-level and regional trends in fraud victimization

• Emerging types of frauds (i.e. disaster-related fraud)

• Non-financial harms of identity fraud and other fraud

• Addition information about the impacts of educational programs and legal services

Key Takeaways: Practice & Policy

• Service providers must learn responses to the wide variety of fraud subtypes and different victims.

• The field needs additional interventions for fraud victims and tailoring of other interventions (i.e., mental health counseling) to respond to their needs.

The picture can't be displayed.

Selected References• AARP. 2003. Off the Hook: Reducing Participation in Telemarketing Fraud: AARP.

• Anderson Keith. 2007. Consumer Fraud in the United States: The Second FTC Survey

• Anderson Keith. 2013. Consumer Fraud in the United States, 2011: The Third FTC Survey

• Andres, M. N. (2015). Making Elder Financial Exploitation Cases Part of a Sustainable Practice: Tips from the Experiences of the University of Illinois College of Law's Elder Financial Justice Clinic. Elder LJ, 23, 297.

• Dixon, Pam, 2006; Medical Identity Theft: The Information Crime that Can Kill You. World Privacy Forum . Retrieved from: http://www.worldprivacyforum.org/wp-content/uploads/2007/11/wpf_medicalidtheft2006.pdf

• Federal Trade Commission , 2007; The President's Identity Theft Task Force Combating Identity Theft: A Strategic Plan. Retrieved from: https://www.ftc.gov/sites/default/files/documents/reports/combating-identity-theft-strategic-plan/strategicplan.pdf

• Federal Trade Commission, 2017d; Identity Theft: Planning for the Future – Parts 1, 2, and 3. Retrieved from: https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/audio-video/video/identity-theft-planning-future-part-1

• Federal Trade Commission, 2018; Consumer Sentinel Network Data Book 2017. Retrieved from: https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/documents/reports/consumer-sentinel-network-data-book-january-december-2016/csn_cy-2016_data_book.pdf

• Harrell Erika, and Langton Lynn. 2018. Victims of identity theft, 2014. : US Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Statistics.

• Harrell Erika. 2019. Victims of identity theft, 2016. : US Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Statistics.

• Heckers, Hazel and O'Brien, Merry, 2014; Advanced Identity Theft Responses: Financial Identity Theft. The National Center for Victims of Crime & The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Investor Education Foundation. Retrieved from: https://victimsofcrime.org/top-links/events/2014/09/10/default-calendar/advanced-identity-theft-responses

• Langton, Lynn and Michael Planty. 2010. National Crime Victimization Survey Supplement Victims of Identity Theft, 2008

• National Center for Victims of Crime, Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Investor Education Foundation (NCVC and FINRA), 2013; Taking Action: An Advocate's Guide to Assisting Victims of Financial Fraud. Retrieved from: https://www.saveandinvest.org/sites/default/files/Taking-Action-An-Advocates-Guide-to-Assisting-Victims-of-Financial-Fraud.pdf

• O'brien, Merry; Heckers, Hazel; Rusch, Jon; Coats, Sanford; Zalenski, Cheryl; Pedley, Eugenia, 2012; Disaster Related Identity Theft Victimization and Fraud. Office for Victims of Crime's National Identity Theft Victims Assistance Network

• Rich, Jessica, 2016; Combating Fraud in African-American and Latino Communities. Federal Trade Commission. Retrieved from: https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/blog/2016/06/combating-fraud-african-american-and-latino-communities

• Saunders, Lauran; Pizor, Andrew; and Twomey, Tara, 2009; Desperate Homeowners: Loan Mod Scammers Step in When Loan Services Refuse to Provide Relief. National Consumer Law Center. Retrieved from: https://www.nclc.org/images/pdf/pr-reports/report-loan-mod-scams-2009.pdf Identity Theft Resource Center. 2017. Identity Theft: The Aftermath 2017

• Synovate. 2007. Federal Trade Commission – 2006 Identity Theft Survey Report Rich 2016

Thank You www.victimresearch.orgContact Librarian@victimresearch.orgTwitter @VictimResearchYouTube Center for Victim ResearchFacebook CenterVictimResearchLinkedIn Center-for-Victim-Research