STAMFORD, Conn.—Last year marked a large shift in the world of data breaches. For the first time, Social Security numbers were compromised more than credit card numbers, a new study shows.
A staggering 16.7 million consumers were affected by identity fraud last year, an 8% increase over year-ago levels and the highest volume since Javelin Strategy & Research began their annual surveys in 2003, noted Bill Hardekopf, CEO of LowCards.com, in his analysis.
This fraud resulted in losses of $16.8 billion.
“Identity theft is still concerning because it provides a gateway for identity fraud. The Javelin study revealed a strong increase in ‘intermediary account openings,’ which are online accounts used as a middle man between the merchant and the payment method,” explained Hardekopf. “PayPal is a notable example. Fraudsters can create these accounts with someone’s personal information and use them to transfer funds from stolen credit cards, or existing accounts in the person’s name.”
The Javelin study found that card-not-present fraud is now 81% more prevalent than card present fraud, and a recent Radial study noticed a similar trend, Hardekopf said.
“However, as the Radial study indicated, the increase in card-not-present fraud may be from a general increase in online shopping in America,” Hardekopf noted.