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Identity Theft: It's the Crime of the Century

For every dollar Americans lose on identity fraud, there's a dollar to be made, if the spate of identity theft marketing is any indication.

March 01, 2004 — CSO — For every dollar Americans lose on identity fraud, there's a dollar to be made, if the spate of identity theft marketing is any indication. The credit bureaus are hawking their credit monitoring services. Insurance companies cross-sell you for identity theft coverage when you call for homeowner's insurance. And then there are the prepaid legal services, credit restoration services, and do-it-yourself kits and books for earning back your good namesome from established companies, some distinctly fly-by-night. It's enough to make you clutch your wallet.

"This will potentially be a significant portion of our volume," says Troy Allen, a vice president of Kroll Fraud Solutions. He notes that in the first three months that Kroll has been offering its identity theft product, which includes credit monitoring and restoration services, one business partner signed up 100,000 members. "Identity theft is a big, big problem," he says.

It remains to be seen, however, how much muscle there really is in all this marketing. The average victim of serious identity theft spends 60 hours restoring his identity, but insurance will hardly cover all of that. At AIG eBusiness Risk Solutions, for instance, Vice President of Business and Product Development Nancy Callahan is vague about when the lost-wages coverage actually kicks in. "We try to apply common sense," she says.

Then there are the memorable ads for Citibank's "Identity Theft Solutions," in which a fraudster incongruously channels a victim who is calmly cleaning a pool, sitting on a couch or having her nails done. There was plenty of buzz about the campaign, but Citibank was mum on exactly what was for sale. The company did not return repeated calls asking for details, and a search of Citibank.com for "identity theft" revealed little. Guess the hype didn't reach the Web department after all.