Less than 25 percent of Americans are taking the proper steps to protect themselves against identity theft losses, according to a recent survey.
The research findings were released by the Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC) and uni-ball pens.
Their study also did a ranking of U.S. cities most at risk for identity theft, which put Phoenix in first place.
Rounding out the top ten were Riverside, Calif.; Las Vegas; Miami/Ft. Lauderdale; Dallas/Ft. Worth; Sacramento, Calif.; San Francisco; Los Angeles; Houston; and San Antonio, Texas.
The survey found approximately 57 percent of people were found to have had some form of identity theft happen to them or someone they know, yet only 34 percent said they are very concerned about becoming a victim themselves.
Forty-two percent of respondents were found to pay bills specifically by check. The survey found 80 percent of those who wrote checks did not use a gel pen, such as the uni-ball 207, which inks paper so thieves cannot perform check washing operations. Nearly 90 percent of those surveyed said they still write checks by hand each month.
The survey found 78.7 percent of respondents would not provide private information.
However, according to attorney Mari Frank, many are careless with paper documents. Ms. Frank is part of a national uni-ball campaign, Secure Your Signature, to alert cities high on the I.D. theft list and educate people on identity theft prevention.
The survey city list was based on the number of complaints reported in the Federal Trade Commission's 2006 annual report issued earlier this year, calculated to compare the occurrences per capita in major U.S. metropolitan areas.
The survey was conducted by Impulse Research Corporation for uni-ball in order to evaluate men's and women's knowledge and experiences with identity theft. The survey was conducted online with a random sample of 1,098 men and women, ages 18 and up, who are all members of the CyberPulse Advisory Panel. The Advisory Panel has been selected to match U.S. population demographics. Research was conducted in September. The overall sampling error for this survey is plus or minus 3 percent at the 95 percent level of confidence.
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