Consumers naive about identity theft

Consumers have a false sense of security when it comes to identity theft, according to a new survey.

The online survey, which polled 8,500 consumers, is from IdentityTruth, a Waltham company that provides services to consumers to help safeguard their privacy and identities.

According to the survey, 85 percent of respondents believe they are taking some steps to protect their identities such as shredding documents and using caution when responding to e-mails requesting information, and 75 percent of respondents said they are most concerned with credit card fraud.

Yet various studies show that only 25 percent of identity theft involved credit-card fraud and that 13 million consumer identities were misused in 2006, IdentityTruth said.

"These results confirm that there is a false sense of security among consumers as it relates to identity theft," company chief executive Steven Domenikos said in a statement. "It is encouraging that consumers are taking preventive measures to protect themselves, but these statistics prove that additional measures need to be taken where consumers face risk."
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)