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Nearly half of US consumers rate identity, banking fraud as chief concerns

August 1, 2017

Forty-four percent of U.S. consumers rate identity theft and banking fraud as their top concern, according to the most recent consumer finance trend research from FICO.

According to a company press release, this figure is more than double the number of people whose top concern is being the victim of a terrorist attack (18 percent) and twice the number who view their own death or that of a loved one as their primary worry (22 percent).

"Human beings hate to lose," Bob Shiflet, vice president of the FICO fraud business line, said in the release. "The survey confirms the psychology of loss aversion, especially when it comes to money and the likelihood of an event happening to us. The loss of your personal information or money from your account cuts deep, it is a violation, and people now know it's much more likely to happen to them."

Consumers are most concerned about the theft of their Social Security number (86 percent), followed by the theft of their bank account information (76 percent) and their credit card information (58 percent). Of least concern was the theft of medical records (15 percent) and biometric data (17 percent).