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The number of identity-theft cases fell last year, but criminals are getting savvier about how to win their victims’ confidence, with more of them relying on newer tools like artificial intelligence. And credit cards and other financial products remain a top target.
That’s the mixed message from the Identity Theft Resource Center, which on Wednesday released its “good news, bad news” annual report for 2023. The topline result in the good-news category is that the number of victims of identity misuse, attempted misuse, and ID compromise dropped 16% last year, to 10,904, according to the report. Likewise, the number of instances of ID crime reported in these cases dropped 11% to 13,197, the ITRC’s findings indicate. These results track with numbers from the Federal Trade Commission, whose results indicate a 6.3% drop in reports of ID theft last year, following an even more robust plunge of 23% in 2022.
But the latest ITRC report, “2023 Trends in Identity,” leaves room for doubt regarding how long this trend might last. Online thieves are getting better at impersonating so-called legitimate officials, likely as a result of the introduction of generative AI technology, the ITRC says. And in other cases, perpetrators don’t need to worm their way into anyone’s confidence—they already have the identifying data they need, according to the El Cajon, Calif.-based Center.
If actual ID theft cases fell, data thieves’ activity certainly climbed. Credit card accounts remain a top target for these thieves, with a 30% increase in the number of reports of attempted misuse last year. Only mortgage loans, with a 50% increase, drew more attention from potential thieves, according to the report. Checking accounts, too, fielded attacks from potential thieves, accounting for an 8% rise in attempted misuse.
Payment cards in general remain a favorite target. They’re now the third-most popular target for ID thieves, accounting for 9% of reported cases of document theft. Only Social Security cards (19%) and drivers’ licenses (17%) were attacked more often.
Such cases are helped by criminals’ increasing sophistication in scamming their victims. Again, with the assistance of AI, ID thieves can more easily gull their targets into believing they are legitimate officials or “customer service” representatives, according to the report. “The primary defense against this advanced tech is effective and decidedly low-tech: pick up the phone and verify the contact directly from the source,” advises the ITRC in the report.
The volume of scams generally follows state population figures, with California accounting for by far the most victims, at 614. Texas ranks second at 282, closely followed by Florida (247) and New York (234).
Overall, the topline good news in this report can’t be dwelled on as a cause of celebration, the report itself cautions. “There are still too many identity-theft victims and too few resources to help them,” notes ITRC president and chief executive Eva Velasquez in her remarks in the report.
