http://5prepaidlegalidentitytheft.com Wed, 16 Sep 2009 19:06:23 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.2 en hourly 1 http://5prepaidlegalidentitytheft.com/2009/08/what-are-the-costs-of-identity-theft-for-victims/ http://5prepaidlegalidentitytheft.com/2009/08/what-are-the-costs-of-identity-theft-for-victims/#comments Tue, 04 Aug 2009 17:21:13 +0000 http://5prepaidlegalidentitytheft.com/2009/08/what-are-the-costs-of-identity-theft-for-victims/ In 2003 it was estimated that the average financial cost to victims was an average of $500, and this could include:
 
•    Legal fees for help with resolving cases and proving identity theft had occurred.
•    Telephone and mail charges for contacting account providers and credit agencies to inform them of the theft and following up the case.
•    Fees or charges resulting from the theft (in some cases only part of the fraudulent charges on credit cards for example were reimbursed by providers, leaving victims liable for rest of the bill).
 
In terms of time spent resolving cases victims were looking at a minimum of 30 hours worth of work involved in chasing up their case and making sure their good name had been restored.
 
However the costs for some victims could be even greater.  If the victim’s identity had been stolen to masque a criminal’s real name when charged for a crime, it would mean that the charges would be recorded in their names leaving them legally liable, and this could be very difficult to resolve, costing victims a lot of time and money to get through all of the legal red tape to clear their names.  In the meantime victims of this type of identity theft crime would have a criminal record that might affect their current jobs, or any jobs they are applying for, and if there was a live warrant in place this could also mean that they would be stopped by law enforcement officers and taken into custody.  If the charges related to traffic violations some victims could also lose their licenses until such time as they could prove their identity had been used fraudulently and the charges were dropped.
 
These days many credit providers are offering zero-liability products such as bank accounts and credit cards, and this is a valuable form of protection for account holders as it means that should they become a victim of identity theft they would not have to pay out any money against fraudulent charges.

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