If you have ever questioned whether you need a home paper shredder, you should look at the statistics; they leave no question.  The sheer number of identity theft victims is alarmingly high and is growing at a steady rate every year.

For instance, according to the Consumer Sentinel, which is a database developed by the Federal Trade Commission to register complaints, the FTC received over 635,000 identity theft and consumer fraud complaints in 2004, that attributed to over $547 million dollars in losses.  Of these complaints, 39% were identity theft cases.  This equates to 246,570 cases where a person's identity was stolen, which is up from 215,093 cases in 2003 and 161,896 instances in 2002.  The increase is steadily trending upward.  According to the Consumer Sentinel, credit card fraud is the most common type of identity theft, representing 28% of the total complaints, followed by utilities fraud at 19% and bank fraud at 18%, and employment fraud at 13%.

The best prevention is to destroy anything with potential confidential information.  This includes anything that has your driver license number on it, employment information, bank card numbers, tax forms, medical records, social security numbers, birth dates, investment records, and anything with your maiden name on it.  It is important these things be destroyed.  According to the National Crime Prevention Council, on average it costs more than $ 1,400 to clear up a case of identity theft if caught, and takes an average of 80 hours, not to mention the adverse credit rating.  This is if the problem is caught early.

The News Is Even Worse

The numbers reported above were cases reported to the NCPC.  Most cases are not reported there.  According to a study done by Gartner Research, as well as another done by Harris Interactive, conducted in June of 2003, there was 7 million cases of identity theft in the twelve months prior to the study.  According to the Identity Theft Resource Center, victims spend over 600 hours time after being victimized.  This represents a large amount of lost revenue, on top of the costs associated with clearing up the problem.

And worse yet, the percentage of the time that these cases result in very few arrests.  The cost to investigate and prosecute these cases is expensive, often running well over $ 10,000 per case, which puts a further burden on our government finances, and directly affects our taxes.  Everyone should invest in a home paper shredder that does not have access to one at their work or a wood burning fireplace that they like to operate year round.  Life is to short to spend 600 hours straightening out your identity and credit.