73% of consumers say shopping is riskier online than offline, survey says
Shoppers’ fears of identity theft are heightened during the holiday shopping season, with 54% of consumers in a recent survey from ProtectMyID.com, a vendor of identity theft identification, protection and fraud resolution, saying they are more concerned about identity theft at this time than during the rest of the year.
In addition, 73% of those surveyed say that shopping online poses a greater risk of identity theft than shopping in a store.
“This heightened fear combined with the busiest shopping period of the year underscores the need for education and awareness surrounding identity theft,” ProtectMyID.com says.
Plans to shop in-store versus online were split 50/50 overall, though a much larger percentage of those aged 18–20, 74%, said they would do more shopping in stores than online, the study found. (that's interesting...)
The survey of 1,035 consumers who use debit or credit cards, conducted for the vendor by Impulse Research, found that 44% of those surveyed claim to know someone who has been a victim of identity theft, and 18% have personally experienced identity theft.
ProtectMyID.com is operated by ConsumerInfo.com Inc, an Experian company.
