In identity theft, it's not just about who you know
Major identity thieves obtain the personal information they crave from retailers, financial companies and other businesses about half the time, a recent study suggests, undercutting a common perception that potential victims should worry most about being scammed by people they know.
The federally funded study paints a complex portrait of the signature crime of the digital age, one that has been the top consumer-fraud complaint to federal authorities for six consecutive years. Of more than 500 offenders arrested by the U.S. Secret Service between 2000 and 2006, just 8 percent were related to or socially acquainted with victims whose sensitive data were used to write checks, take out loans or buy cars.
