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Most Stolen Personal Data Used to Open New Credit Lines, Says Survey
printNearly two-thirds of stolen personal data are used to open a new credit line in the victims' names, according to a survey released Monday. The survey, conducted by the San Diego, Calif.-based Identity Theft Resource Center, looked at the experiences of 97 identity theft victims who responded to 44 questions about how the crime had impacted their personal and financial lives. Charges made to fraudulent accounts in the victims' names ranged between $50 and $500,000 and, in aggregate, increased 78 percent from 2004 to 2006, the center said. In 27 percent of the cases, ID thieves used stolen information to...
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