Risk and protective factors of identity theft victimization in the United States
Open accessAbstract
Identity theft victimization is associated with serious physical and mental health morbidities. The problem is expanding as society becomes increasingly reliant on technology to store and transfer personally identifying information. Guided by lifestyle-routine activity theory, this study sought to identify risk and protective factors associated with identity theft victimization and determine whether individual-level behaviors, including frequency of online purchasing and data protection practices, are determinative of victimization. Data from sequential administrations of the U.S. National Crime Victimization Survey-Identity Theft Supplement (ITS) in 2012 and 2014 were combined (N = 128,419). Using multivariable logistic regression, risk and protective factors were examined for three subtypes: 1) unauthorized use of existing credit card/bank accounts, and unauthorized use of personal information to 2) open new accounts, or 3) engage in instrumental activities (e.g., applying for government benefits, receiving medical care, filing false tax returns). Existing credit card/bank accounts and new accounts identity theft victimization were associated with higher levels of online purchasing activity and prior identity theft victimization. All identity theft subtypes were associated with government/corporate data breaches and other crime victimization experiences. Routine individual-level preventive behaviors such as changing online passwords and shredding/destroying documents were protective. Identity theft subtypes showed divergent socio-demographic risk/protective profiles, with those of higher socioeconomic status more likely to be victims of existing credit card/bank account identity theft. Identity theft is a pervasive, growing problem with serious health and psychosocial consequences, yet individuals can engage in specific protective behaviors to mitigate victimization risk.
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Lifestyles/routine activity theory has been applied to identity theft, cybercrime, and fraud.
“Although this theory was originally developed to explain direct-contact predatory offenses, it has also been applied to identity theft (Burnes et al. 2020;Guedes et al. 2022;Reynolds 2021), cybercrime (Khey and Sainato 2013;Leukfeldt and Yar 2016), and fraud (DeLiema 2018; Lee et al. 2022).”
From Profiling consumers who reported mass marketing scams: demographic characteristics and emotional sentiments associated with victimization (2024) · cites this paper as Burnes et al. 2020
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The financial and psychological impact of identity theft among older adults
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“Although this theory was originally developed to explain direct-contact predatory offenses, it has also been applied to identity theft (Burnes et al. 2020; Guedes et al. 2022; Reynolds 2021), cybercrime (Khey and Sainato 2013; Leukfeldt and Yar 2016), and fraud (DeLiema 2018; Lee et al. 2022).”
Self-citation
- Authors
- Burnes, D., DeLiema, M., & Langton, L.
- Affiliations
- University of Toronto (CA)
- University of Minnesota (US)
- RTI International (US)
- Corresponding author
- Burnes, David
- Venue
- Preventive Medicine Reports
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2020-03
- Volume
- 17
- Pages
- 101058
- ISSN
- 2211-3355 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC7013169
- OpenAlex
- W3001414675
- Cited by
- 75
- References
- 33
- Citations by year
- 2026: 11 · 2025: 12 · 2024: 24 · 2023: 15 · 2022: 8 · 2021: 4 · 2020: 1
- FWCI
- 6.59
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Preventive Medicine Reports (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- TSpace (University of Toronto) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Information Systems › Cybercrime and Law Enforcement Studies
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Information Systems › Information and Cyber Security
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Privacy, Security, and Data Protection
- Keywords
- identity theft, victimization risk factors, protective factors, routine activity theory, online shopping, password security, data breaches, credit card fraud, prior victimization, socioeconomic status, National Crime Victimization Survey
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