ID theft victims paralysed by fantasy

DESPITE fears of identity theft, people whose credit cards are lost or stolen or whose personal information is accidentally compromised, face little risk of becoming victims of the 21st century crime.

According to figures released by a fraud detection outfit ID Analytics, in cases where thieves have access to sensitive data only one in every 1000 cases results in an identity theft

The other thing noticed by ID Analytics is that the smaller the security breach, the greater the likelihood of identity theft.

In other words, when you read that more than 100,000 people had their social security numbers leaked when a lap top falls into the paws of tea leafs, it is unlikely that any of them will become victims.

However, if a person is named in a breach containing up to 250 names, there's a pretty high probability that their identity is going to be nicked.

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