An An identity theft victim can encounter numerous problems. It is encountering these problems that often lead to the discovery of identity theft in the first place. The main problems victims are reporting (1) rejection for a credit card, (2) being harassed by a collections agent, and (3) rejection for a major purchase loan, (4) rejection for insurance, (5) having a civil suit filed against them, (6) having utilities cut off or service refused for previous unpaid balances, (7) being investigated for a criminal matter, (8) being contacted by the IRS regarding tax liabilities and (9) having banking problems including having accounts drained or over drawn.
According the FTC, an average of between $500 to $1000 was the value of services or products received as a result of identity theft. Generally, if the abuse is on an existing account (credit cards, utilities, etc..) Then the losses tend to be lower. However, when new accounts are opened using a victims personal information, the losses tend to be much higher, typically More than $5000 and easily reaching over $10,000. And this does not count the time and money the victim will have to spend to repair the damage.
The sooner the abuse is discovered, the lower the amounts of fraud committed. Cases discovered and reported to credit reporting bureaus, the banks, and the authorities within days or even hours can result in losses closer to $100s. However, when cases protract out over months, then the losses can add up to over $5000 or more. Check fraud, however, can easily be the entire balance ($100 or $10,000) of the account in only a few days. Regardless of the type of fraud or the intent of the thief, the sooner you know, the better off you will be.
Use safe purchasing practices which does not expose you to risk. See the 7 Crimes page.