Ad Opportunity: Services Grow to Help Stem Surging Identity Theft

 

Identify theft continues to grow. In 2009, over $54 billion of fraudulent activity linked to identity theft was reported. This level represented a 12.5% rise over the 2008 level of $48 billion.  At least 11.1 million consumers,  or 4.8% of the population, experienced identity theft in 2009 according to the most recent report by Javelin Strategy and Research.

Types of fraud included:

• Existing card accounts – both account numbers and physical cards
• Existing non-card accounts – checking and savings accounts and utilities
• New accounts – loans being taken out or accounts being set up in another individual’s name

The mean value of a fraud incident is $4,481 and the average consumer pays about $373 out of pocket to resolve the problem. These bad experiences often cause consumers to take steps that negatively impact marketers. For example, they:

• Avoid specific merchants
• Change the way they make payments
• Terminate relationships with credit card companies and banks

To counter identity theft, marketers are introducing services and products that alert consumers to potential fraud incidents. Amica Insurance Platinum Choice policyholders now have their credit accounts regularly monitored and they have access to a specialist who will help them resolve problems. And Discover cardholders have the option to purchase Identity Theft Protection insurance. As more financial services and insurance firms launch protection  solutions, they’ll also need to advertise their new offerings. Contact clients in your market and discuss a new ad campaign on this topic to increase your sales.

[Sources: Identity Fraud release, Javelin, Identity Theft 911 release, Amica, 2009, Identity Theft Protection, Discover, 2010]