Our personal identifiers are now, more than ever, a valuable commodity to criminals. While no single agency tracks identity fraud, statistics collected by the GAO point to a growing problem. Trans Union, for example, one of the three major credit bureaus, says two thirds of all consumer inquiries relate to identity fraud. But that's only part of the problem. Identity fraud is a relatively new phenomenon, and it's not a crime, except in a handful of states like Arizona and California that have recently made it so.
Most victims call the police.
Victims need proof because the attitude they often encounter when dealing with creditors is guilty, guilty, guilty. Victims often have to play detective, coming up with clues, leads, and even the basic evidence that a fraud has been committed. Ore. The kitchen sink. Typically, creditors ask an identity-theft victim to fill out an affidavit certifying he or she did not incur the debt. As with many victims of identity theft, sensitive documents were the last thing she wanted to send to a stranger.