News

Card data theft the No. 1 worry among Americans, Gallup poll says

Gallup found that 69 percent of Americans worry about having card information stolen in a retail data breach — and suggested that this fear could increase reliance on cash.

October 30, 2014

ATM deployers might want to keep a closer eye on the stocks of cash in their machines this holiday season, based on the results of a recent Gallup survey.

The Gallup poll revealed that Americans are more likely to worry about having credit card information stolen in a merchant data breach than any other crime they were asked about  — including home burglary and car theft. Sixty-nine percent of Americans reported that they frequently or occasionally worry about card data theft in a retail environment.

Having a computer or smartphone hacked (62 percent) was the only other crime that worries the majority of Americans.

Gallup updated its measure of Americans' worry about a number of crime scenarios in its annual Crime poll, conducted Oct. 12-15. This was the first year Gallup asked Americans about having credit card information stolen or a smartphone or computer hacked.

Upper-income Americans, those whose household incomes are $75,000 or more a year, are more likely than lower-income Americans to worry frequently or occasionally about hacking of their credit card information, 85 percent to 50 percent. Americans between the ages of 30 and 64 worry about this more than younger and older Americans do.

Americans might be more worried about hacking because a relatively high percentage of them say they have had their information hacked. A quarter of Americans, 27 percent, say they or another household member had information from a credit card used at a store stolen by computer hackers during the last year, making this the most frequently experienced crime on a list of nine crimes. Eleven percent say they or a household member have had their computer or smartphone hacked in the last year, also in the top half of crimes on the list.

The Department of Homeland Security estimates that more than 1,000 U.S. businesses have been hit by cyberattacks similar to the one that hit Target; that breach alone is estimated to have affected 40 million credit and debit card accounts.

Gallup suggested that concerns about credit card hacking might affect consumers' shopping habits as they take measures to protect their identities and finances. Consumers might avoid stores that have been hacked, and begin paying more frequently with cash or prepaid cards to protect their identity, Gallup said.

Results for this Gallup poll are based on telephone interviews conducted Oct. 12-15, 2014, with a random sample of 1,017 adults, aged 18 and older, living in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia.