Identity Theft Statistics: Gallup Poll

According to a new Gallup poll of identity theft statistics, 66% of adults worry the most about their identities being stolen.

Gallup trends measuring Americans’ fear of being victims of specific crimes date back several decades, but for each of 10 crimes, the question has been updated annually on Gallup’s Crime survey since 2000. Terrorism was added to the list in 2001, and 2009 marks the first year identity theft has been included. Gallup says the reason for big worries about identity theft might have to do with the high-profile attention lawmakers and identity-protection firms have been placing on it.

Frequent/Occasional Worry About Various Types of Crime

Besides identity theft statistics on American’s fear of identity theft, they also polled on the steps they would take to prevent it. Biometrics is the clear winner. Biometrics refers to methods for uniquely recognizing humans based upon one or more built-in physical or behavioral traits (fingerprint, voice pattern, gait pattern, retinal scan, etc.). In particular, biometrics is used as a form of Identity Access Management and it is also used to identify individuals in groups that are under surveillance. According to the Gallup Survey, 58% percent of Americans said they would use biometrics to verify their identities, as long as the biometric data was secured, while 38% said they would not use biometrics. The lack of daily use of these methods causes some Americans to be hesitant at first until they are more familiar.

Here are a few more statistics that were uncovered through this survey:

93 % said they would prefer fingerprint scans as a way to authenticate access to their data with banks, government agencies, and other organizations — an increase of 20 percent over responses a year ago.
79 % of the respondents saying they were willing to use Iris scanning for authentication.
89 % would use passwords
88 % would use PINs
82 %, photographs
74 %, face scans
69 %, voice recording.
22 % said they trust the feds to protect their data
29 % trust their financial institutions to protect their data

More Americans today worry about being a victim of Identity Theft than they do being a victim of Terrorism. The best way to reduce fear of Identity theft is to begin prevention and protection today.

John Sileo became America’s leading Identity Theft Speaker & Expert after he lost his business and more than $300,000 to identity theft and data breach. His clients include the Department of Defense, Pfizer and the FDIC. To learn more about having him speak at your next meeting or conference, contact him by email or on 800.258.8076.

Posted by Identity Theft Speaker John Sileo in Identity Theft Prevention and tagged Biometrics, Gallup, Identity Theft Statistics, John Sileo.