Why ID Theft Targets Women - 0 views
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Karl Wabst on 21 Apr 09"Identity theft can happen to anyone," is the frequent refrain of government and advocacy groups warning consumers about bank fraud. What they don't add: The crime is far more likely when that "anyone" is a woman. A study released Monday by the fraud-tracking firm Javelin Research showed that women are 26% more likely than men to be the victims of identity theft. While 3.8% of men had their banking details stolen and used for fraud in the last year, 4.8% of women were victimized. And women took far longer on average to discover their financial identities had been compromised, leading to far greater risk of repeat fraud: Women took 83 days to detect they'd been targeted, compared with 45 days for men. The growing reason behind this disparity, argues Javelin President James Van Dyke, is an often-misunderstood trend: Digital commerce is making identity theft harder, rather than easier. Because men are statistically more likely than women to adopt newer technologies such as online banking and shopping, they more often have the benefit of high-tech safeguards, Van Dyke says. Women, because of their lesser use of Web banking and sales, suffer from more old-fashioned fraud caused by stolen credit cards or retail employees, he says. Fifty-eight percent of women, for instance, have never banked online, compared with 55% of men, according to Javelin's study. That means women are less likely to sign up for fraud protection programs like text message or e-mail alerts that warn of abnormal transactions. Twenty-three percent of men use e-mail alerts, compared with 15% of women; 8% of men receive text message warnings, compared with just 3% of women.