Identity Theft in Canada - Statistics

You may not hear about identity theft that often, but it affects thousands of people across Canada regularly. While some scams are quite obvious, others are not so easy to spot. By taking a close look at some Canadian identity theft statistics, you just may be able to recognize the next scam that comes your way.

Below, you will find some interesting stats that pertain to the entire country of Canada. You will also discover that the term "identity theft" encompasses different kinds of fraud ranging from stolen credit cards to actual theft.

• 1.7 million Canadians, 6.5% of the total Canadian population, reported that they were the victim of identity theft in 2007, according to a McMaster eBusiness Research Centre study.
• Resolving identity theft in Canada requires a combined 20 million hours and over $150 million in victims' out-of-pocket expenses each year.
• More than 50% of identity theft cases involve fraudulent credit card transactions.
• 37% of all Canadian consumer credit fraud happens via counterfeit cards, according to SpamLaws.com. Thieves thrive upon this type of fraud, since new technology makes it easy for them to swipe personal information at the time of a credit card transaction.
• 23% of all reported fraud cases happen due to lost or stolen credit cards. Usually this occurs when people are not paying attention, and a purse or wallet is stolen or left behind.
• 10% of credit card scams happen without ever giving a physical card to a thief. Instead, thieves will simply ask for credit card information over the telephone (a scam called "phishing"). Unfortunately, many Canadians fall for this scam by reading their credit card numbers to thieves masquerading as legitimate company representatives.
• 7% of credit cards are stolen from mailboxes. This is the one type of fraud that is presently on the decline, since most card companies now require customers to activate credit cards using unique personal information.
• Surprisingly, only 4% of fraud cases are identity theft cases. Identity theft occurs when a person’s actual identity is stolen and used for a number of fraudulent purposes. 

Interestingly, the number of fraud cases reported in Canada seems to vary from month to month. While thousands of fraud cases occur during some months, a minimal amount of fraud cases are reported during other months. Thus far, there is no logical explanation to this observation.

It’s hard to determine whether or not identity theft is on the rise. While fraud cases seem to steadily increase each year, the recent economic crisis has not created a large increase of identity theft or other fraud cases.