According to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), a report released in 2007 revealed that 8.3 million American adults, or 3.7 percent of all American adults, were victims of identity theft in 2005.
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- 3.2 million experienced misuse of their existing credit card accounts,
- 3.3 million experienced misuse of non-credit card accounts,
- 1.8 million victims found that new accounts were opened or other frauds were committed using their personal identifying information.
Many of these occurrences can be avoided by monitoring your credit (credit reports), making yourself aware of identity theft isues (visit the FTC), and by simply shredding your mail and other important documents (paper shredders).
