Identity theft statistics 2026

Most identity theft statistics pages repeat one number from the FTC and stop. We went into the records behind it. We regrouped the FTC's own identity theft categories, set its reports against the Census Bureau's population by age, compared them with the offenses police record and solve in the FBI's crime data, and counted how companies closed the identity-theft complaints people sent to the CFPB. The picture that comes out is more specific, and more useful, than a headline count. Every chart can be embedded, and the whole dataset downloads as a CSV at the end of the page.

How common is identity theft?

Very common, and far more common than before the pandemic. The FTC received 1,135,291¹ identity theft reports in 2024, the latest year it has published full tables for: 333.8¹ reports for every 100,000 people in the country, and 17.5%¹ of everything filed with its Consumer Sentinel network. That is below the peak of 1,434,477¹ in 2021, when pandemic unemployment fraud flooded the system, but still far above the 649,390¹ reports of 2019.

What do identity thieves do with your information?

Mostly, they open new accounts in your name. The FTC sorts every report into types such as "credit card, new accounts" or "bank account, existing accounts". We regrouped them. In 2024, reports named 749,681¹ new accounts or loans opened in the victim's name, and 124,963¹ existing accounts a thief misused: 6x¹ as many. New accounts and loans made up 52.7%¹ of every identity theft type reported.

The single most common kind of identity theft is a new credit card. People reported 406,110¹ credit cards opened in their name, against 52,428¹ reports of an existing card being misused. Loans and leases taken out in a victim's name added 202,390¹. The fastest-growing new-account type was housing: reports of an apartment or house rented in someone else's name rose 35%¹ in a year. Government benefits fraud, the type behind much of the pandemic spike, fell 36%¹ to 52,858¹ reports.

Who is most likely to be a victim of identity theft?

People in their 30s. Of the 2024 identity theft reports that gave an age, people in their 30s filed 30.6%¹, though they are 18.3%⁴ of adults. Per resident, they filed 619¹ reports per 100,000, against 132¹ for people in their 70s: 4.7x¹ the rate.

Fraud runs the other way. People 60 and over make up 31.9%⁴ of adults and filed 36.6%¹ of the fraud reports that gave an age, but only 13.7%¹ of identity theft reports. Scams that talk someone into paying skew older; identity theft, which mostly means credit opened in someone's name, skews toward the ages when people apply for credit, leases and jobs, and so are most likely to run into an account they did not open. The data cannot say how much of the gap is who gets targeted and how much is who notices and reports.

Where you live matters too. Florida reported 528¹ identity theft cases per 100,000 residents in 2024, the highest rate of any state, ahead of Georgia at 517¹.

Where do identity theft complaints end up?

With debt collectors, mostly. The CFPB's complaint database does not record how someone discovered the theft, but it shows where the dispute lands. Of the 29,261² complaints in 2025 that a debt, card, bank account or loan was opened in someone's name, 20,735² were about a collector chasing a debt the consumer said came from identity theft: 70.9%².

Do companies fix identity theft complaints?

Mostly not through the complaint. When people told the CFPB in 2025 that a debt, card, bank account or loan was opened in their name, companies closed 74.9%² of the complaints with an explanation and no relief. 24.5%² ended with relief of some kind, and 234² with money back.

The outcome depends on what was opened. Complaints about a credit card opened in someone's name ended with relief 36.7%² of the time, complaints about a debt from identity theft 23.5%², and complaints about a bank account 14.4%². Complaints about a loan fared worst: 5.6%².

The pattern held in 2026. Of 28,311² such complaints from January to September, 26.8%² ended with relief, and loans were again the lowest, at 4.9%².

Do police solve identity theft?

Rarely. Police agencies reporting to the FBI's National Incident-Based Reporting System recorded 197,971³ identity theft offenses in 2024 and cleared 8.6%³ of them, by arrest or by exceptional means. Comparing each per resident: for every 100 identity thefts reported to the FTC, police recorded about 20³ as crimes and cleared 1.7³.

The FBI's 2025 figures are no better: 203,539³ offenses recorded, and 8%³ cleared.

Where do identity thieves get the data?

From breaches that carry Social Security numbers. Of the 666⁵ breach notices on the Texas Attorney General's list in the past year, 554⁵ said Social Security numbers were exposed: 83%⁵. A Social Security number with a name and a date of birth is usually what opening credit in someone's name takes, and unlike a password it cannot be changed. Our data breach statistics cover what else breaches expose.

What to do if your identity is stolen

How we compiled these numbers

Every figure on this page is computed from public records we pull into dated, hashed snapshots, so a number can only change through a reviewed refresh. The FTC figures come from the CSV files behind its 2024 Consumer Sentinel Network Data Book; the grouping into new accounts, existing accounts and everything else is ours, and the definitions are on each chart's page. Population figures are the Census Bureau's 1 July 2024 estimates. Police figures are NIBRS identity theft offenses and clearances from the FBI's Crime Data Explorer. CFPB figures count complaints whose sub-issue says a debt came from identity theft or that a credit card, bank account or loan was opened without the consumer's knowledge, excluding the three nationwide credit bureaus. Texas figures count the notices on the Attorney General's rolling one-year breach list.

None of these sources counts every identity theft. They count the people who reported it, the offenses police recorded and the complaints companies answered. Each chart links to its own page with the full table, a CSV, a PNG and embed code.