Adults between the ages of 20 and 29 reported having been affected by
identity theft and other types of fraud more often than any other age group.
Recent data from the Consumer Sentinel Network shows that 56,689 people aged 20 to 29 were victimized by identity theft in 2011, and that makes up 23 percent of all reported incidents, according to a report from the
Better Business Bureau. This may be the result of these consumers having greater vulnerability to what is known as "friendly fraud" - that is, crimes carried out by people they know.
Many people in this age group put a large amount of information about themselves online all the time, and this data could be combed through and used to commit some sort of identity theft, the report said. For this reason, it's important that people of all ages take care in posting their personal data online.
Eduard Goodman, chief privacy officer for Identity Theft 911, has a blog about how consumers can use websites' built in
privacy protection measures to make sure that only the people they want to see their information are able to access it.
© 2003-2012 IDentity Theft 911, LLC. All Rights Reserved