In a country where consumers owe more than $1 trillion on their credit cards, estimates of $2 billion to $3 billion in credit card fraud losses may not seem all that terrible. That comes out to just two to three one-thousandths of one percent. But it is terrible to victims of fraud. Though they may be protected financially, they are forced to endure major inconvenience. Additionally, we all pay for the costs of fraud in the form of higher prices, higher interest rates and increased inconvenience.

Some types of identity theft and credit fraud include:

• Identity theft - the unauthorized use of personal identification information to commit fraud or other crimes
• Identity assumption - long-term victimization of identification information
• Fraud spree - unauthorized charges on existing accounts