Credit card fraud: leading issue in US identity theft

As the digital era progresses, credit card fraud has become the core of identity theft in the United States. This study analyzes consumer reports on credit card-related matters such as credit card fraud, changes in interest rates, overcharges, phishing attempts, deceptive credit card loss protection, and various other issues from 2020 to 2023, as provided by the Federal Trade Commission. It reveals that credit card fraud disproportionately affects individuals in their prime working age.

Key insights

• Credit card fraud has been the focus of 83% of the 1.9 million US consumer reports on credit card-related issues received by the Federal Trade Commission since 2020, amounting to over 1.5 million instances.
• Credit card fraud is the predominant form of identity theft, accounting for nearly one-third of all reported cases since 2020. Individuals in their 30s and 40s are particularly vulnerable, with over half of the reports in this category originating from these age groups.
• On average, there have been 434 reports of credit card fraud per 100K people in the US since 2020. In contrast to the national average, Georgia and Florida have recorded the highest numbers of credit card fraud reports, at 916 and 882 reports per 100K people, respectively.
• Credit card reports have shown a notable increase in the first quarter of both 2022 and 2023, which could be attributed to heightened holiday season spending¹. As individuals rely on credit cards to cover their expenses, we might observe a similar increase in credit card fraud occurring in the first quarter of 2024.

Methodology and sources

The data for this study was collected from the Consumer Sentinel Network Data Book by the Federal Trade Commission. Data on identity theft and other reports from 2020 to the end of the 3rd quarter of 2023 was aggregated and analyzed according to the submitted report type, number of reports per age group and state.

Data was collected from:

References: