Identity Theft Supplement (ITS)

The ITS collected individual data on the prevalence of, and victim response to, successful misuse of an existing account, misuse of personal information to open a new account, or misuse of personal information for other fraudulent purposes. Respondents were asked whether they experienced any of these types of misuse in their lifetime and in the 12 months prior to the interview.

Persons who reported experiencing one or more incidents of identity theft in the prior 12 months were asked questions about the incident and their response to the incident, such as the date of the most recent incident; how they discovered the identity theft; financial, credit, and other problems resulting from the incident; time spent resolving associated problems; and reporting to police and credit bureaus. For most sections of the survey instrument, the ITS asked victims who experienced multiple incidents during the 12-month reference period to describe only the most recent incident. It asked victims who experienced multiple incidents of identity theft during the year to provide details on the total financial losses they experienced as a result of all incidents. It also asked all respondents a series of questions about identity theft they experienced outside of the 12-month reference period and about measures they took to avoid or minimize the risk of becoming an identity-theft victim.