The Federal Trade Commission is now wise to the reality: identity theft is a problem. Nearly one in eight U.S. adults has had their credit card hijacked, identity co-opted or credit rating pockmarked by identity thieves over the past five years, Reuters quoted the Federal Trade Commission as saying. The FTC surveyed some 4,000 adults this spring to come up with the most comprehensive picture yet of the fast-growing crime.

 

Amid the grim statistics, the agency found a silver lining: After nearly doubling for two to three years, new incidents of identity theft are growing more slowly and tend to involve less money. That’s because banks are wising up to the problem, making it more difficult for scam artists to set up fraudulent credit cards, and consumers are spotting suspicious activity on their accounts earlier, said Howard Beales, director of the FTC’s consumer-protection division.