Identity Theft Statistics (2026): 39 Sourced Figures

This page collects figures on identity theft in the United States. It covers how many people it affects, what form it takes, what it costs and how long recovery takes. Every number links to the document that first published it. Most figures come from five federal bodies. These are the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS), the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) and the National Taxpayer Advocate. The rest come from the Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC), a nonprofit. Some come from Javelin Strategy & Research, which runs an annual consumer survey. Businesses that open accounts, take payments or extend credit carry much of the cost of identity theft. Those businesses can compare tools on the StatWharf page for fraud detection software.

Method

The data window runs from 2021 to June 2026. StatWharf used primary sources only. These are federal agencies, a nonprofit that publishes its own case data, and the publisher of a named survey. Statistics aggregators and blogs that re-quote other sources were excluded. Each figure was checked against its source in October 2026. StatWharf dropped each figure that did not appear on its primary source. No value on this page is modeled, estimated or calculated by StatWharf.

The sources measure different things, and their numbers do not add up to one total:

• FTC Consumer Sentinel counts reports that consumers file. The reports are not verified, and one victim can file more than one. At the check date, the latest edition with a full identity theft breakdown was the 2024 Data Book. The FTC published it in March 2025.
• FBI IC3 counts complaints filed with the FBI. Few identity theft victims file there, so its counts are far smaller than the FTC’s.
• BJS runs a national household survey. It is the only federal estimate of how many people experience identity theft. The latest edition covers 2021 and was published in October 2023.
• Javelin runs an online survey of US adults, funded by commercial sponsors, and sells the full report. Its figures are labeled with the sample size.
• ITRC reports on the people who contact it for help and on breach notices that organizations file. Its case data describes those who sought help, not all victims.

How many Americans experience identity theft

Survey data gives the widest view, because most victims never file a report. The BJS estimate comes from the Identity Theft Supplement to the National Crime Victimization Survey. The Javelin figures come from an online survey of 5,010 US adults, fielded from November 10 to December 3, 2025.

The BJS figure answers the question of what share of Americans experience identity theft. In 2021, 9% of residents age 16 or older had a case. About 1 in 5 had one at some point in their life. The BJS definition is broad. It includes misuse of an existing credit card or bank account, which makes up most cases.

Javelin reports that account takeover victims rose from 5.1 million in 2024 to 6 million in 2025. New-account fraud victims rose from 4.2 million to 5.4 million. New-account fraud means a criminal opens a credit card, loan or other account in the victim’s name. That is the type a lender or retailer must catch at the point of application.

Reports to federal agencies

The FTC runs IdentityTheft.gov and receives far more identity theft reports than any other agency. The FBI IC3 receives a smaller set of complaints, mostly where the theft is part of an online crime.

Among the years shown, FTC report counts were highest in 2021. They fell in 2022 and 2023 and rose again in 2024. The FTC notes that totals for past years can change as data contributors add late reports. In 2024, identity theft was the second-largest report category, behind credit bureaus and information furnishers.

Florida had the highest rate of identity theft reports per 100,000 residents in 2024, with 528. The FTC ranks states by this rate, not by the raw count.

IC3 identity theft complaints rose from 21,403 in 2024 to 31,675 in 2025. Complaints from people age 60 and older reached 5,359 in 2025. The IC3 counts are small next to the FTC counts. Most victims report to the FTC, to their bank or to no one.

Types of identity theft

The FTC sorts each identity theft report by how the stolen information was used. A report can name more than one type. The ITRC figures describe the 6,188 people who contacted the ITRC from April 1, 2025 to March 31, 2026.

Credit card misuse leads the FTC list. It covers both a new card opened in the victim’s name and misuse of an existing card. Loan or lease fraud ranks third. These types show that identity theft often reaches a business at one moment. That moment is when an account opens or a credit decision is made.

The ITRC data points to the same pattern from the victim side. Half of the misuse cases it handled involved takeover of an existing account. New accounts created in the victim’s name made up most of the rest. The share of people with two or more incidents rose from 23.5% the year before to 25.6%.

What identity theft costs

Loss figures vary widely by source, because each one measures a different group and a different kind of loss. The BJS figure counts all direct and indirect losses to victims in one year, before any reimbursement. The Javelin figure is a survey estimate of identity fraud losses. The IC3 figure counts only losses that complainants reported to the FBI.

The BJS report answers the question of the average cost of identity theft. Among victims with a loss, the mean was US$1,160 and the median was US$200. Only 12% of victims had out-of-pocket losses at the time of the interview. Banks, card issuers and insurers often reimburse the rest. That reimbursement moves the cost from the consumer to the business that approved the transaction or account.

Javelin reports that traditional identity fraud losses were flat in 2025 against 2024, at US$27.3 billion. Javelin reports scam losses separately, at just under US$11 billion. The FTC figure of US$15.9 billion covers all fraud reported to the FTC in 2025, not identity theft alone. It is shown for scale. The FTC does not attach a dollar loss to its identity theft reports in the Data Book.

Data breaches and financial institutions

Stolen identities often start with exposed data. The ITRC tracks breach notices that organizations file under state law. FinCEN analyzed the suspicious activity reports that banks and other institutions file under the Bank Secrecy Act.

The 2025 count of 3,322 compromises set a record, up from 3,152 in 2024. Victim notices fell by 79% from 2024, because 2025 had no breach on the scale of the largest 2024 incidents. Financial services was the most breached industry, with 739 compromises. Most notices now give no detail on how the breach happened. That makes it harder for consumers and businesses to judge which credentials are at risk.

FinCEN found that identity-related filings made up 42% of all Bank Secrecy Act reports filed in 2021. The US$212 billion figure is the value of suspicious activity in those reports. It is not a confirmed loss. It shows how much transaction volume institutions flagged for identity concerns.

Recovery and resolution

Recovery is where identity theft costs time as well as money. People often ask how many cases are solved and how many thieves are caught. No federal source publishes an arrest or clearance rate for identity theft. The figures below measure reporting and resolution instead.

Only 7% of victims in the BJS survey reported the incident to police. In the same survey, 67% contacted a credit card company or bank. Most victims treat identity theft as a problem for their bank, not for law enforcement. This is one reason no reliable public figure exists on how many identity thieves are caught.

The ITRC result comes from a small survey of 147 victims. Among those with no measurable financial impact, 53% said their concern was resolved. Among those with any financial impact, only 9% said so.

Tax identity theft is the slowest to resolve. In 2025, hundreds of thousands of taxpayers waited for the IRS to resolve their cases and issue refunds. The National Taxpayer Advocate reports an average wait of more than 21 months. The Advocate recommends a target of 90 days.

What the figures show

Three points stand out. First, identity theft is common and mostly unreported to police. The BJS survey found 23.9 million victims in one year, while the FTC received 1,135,291 reports in 2024.

Second, most identity theft is used against accounts. Credit card, loan and bank account misuse lead the FTC list. Account takeover is half of the ITRC’s misuse cases. Javelin counts 6 million account takeover victims and 5.4 million new-account fraud victims in 2025.

Third, the cost often lands on businesses. Few victims bear an out-of-pocket loss, because card issuers and banks reimburse them. Banks flagged US$212 billion in identity-related suspicious activity in a single year of filings.

Where to go next

Lenders, payment firms and online retailers need to stop stolen identities at sign-up or checkout. They can review the fraud detection software comparison. It sets out buyer fit and published pricing for each product. It does not name a single best product. Other sourced figure pages are listed in the StatWharf research directory.

The next update follows three releases. These are the FTC Data Book for 2025, the next ITRC breach report and any new BJS bulletin. Corrections to any figure can be sent to the editorial address below.

Factual corrections are free: editorial@statwharf.com.