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Whereas identity theft once appeared to be a single event related to a stolen credit card number, fraudulent charge, or compromised financial account, fraud victims increasingly are reporting multiple incidents once they learn they’ve been victimized, according to new research from the Identity Theft Resource Center.
In its latest annual study of ID theft trends, the El Cajon, California-based nonprofit says in a statement that “identity crimes have evolved from isolated events into ‘multi-layered’ crises, with 25.6 percent of victims now managing two or more concurrent incidents, up from 23.5 percent the previous year.”
The ITRC, which provides assistance to fraud victims, analyzed data from 9,253 incidents reported to it by 6,188 unique individuals between April 1, 2025, and March 31 of this year.
Among individuals disclosing a single incident, 18% reported an account takeover, the report says. With two incidents, that number jumps to 51%, and 80% with four or more incidents.
A second major trend the report identifies is a decrease in scams in which intended victims voluntarily turn over personal identifying information to fraudsters, but an increase in unauthorized access to devices such as mobile phones or computers. In its 2024-25 study, the ITRC found 43% of compromises originated from scams, but the latest survey found that figure fell to 36%. In contrast, fraudulent device access accounted for 27% of reported compromises in the 2025-26 study, well above 15% a year earlier. Unauthorized access gives fraudsters the potential to access the victim’s banking, payment, email, and social-media accounts, the report notes.
Theft of physical items was little changed as the source of 16% of compromises in the new study versus 17% in last year’s. But data breaches saw their share of compromises fall from 14% in 2024-25 to 10% in 2025-26.
Account takeovers were the most common misuse resulting from compromises of personal information and involved 2,512 cases, the ITRC says. The second most-common misuse was new-account fraud, with 1,905 cases. Credit card accounts were the leading type of fraudulent accounts, at 32.7%. Next were checking accounts, 9.5%, and personal loans, 8%.
The ITRC also says few victims had their concerns resolved by account providers. “Among those with any financial impact, 9% had their concern resolved,” the report says.
