The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is out with yet another survey on the prevalence of identity theft in the US, and once more it troubles me.

I think that every good study of identity theft helps, because while many of them differ widely in their methods and results, we seem to learn something new from each one. But some of the lessons might be misleading.

Just as a quick summary, the latest survey published by the FTC on November 27th found that:

- 8.3 million American adults, or 3.7 percent of all American adults, were victims of identity theft in 2005. That’s down a little from some previous estimates.

- In at least half of all incidents, thieves obtained goods or services worth $500 or less. In 10 percent of cases, however, thieves got at least $6,000 worth of goods or services.

- In more than half of the incidents, victims incurred no out-of-pocket expenses. Some victims, however, incurred substantial out-of-pocket expenses – 10 percent of all victims reported out-of-pocket expenses of $1,200 or more.

- The median time spent resolving problems by all victims was four hours. Ten percent of victims, however, spent at least 55 hours resolving their problems, and half of those spent at least 130 hours.

It’s the last two points that concern me, because if half of all the identity thefts across the nation cost the victim nothing in out-of-pocket expenses, and the median time spent resolving the crime was just four hours, it appears to be more like identity or credit card fraud than identity theft.

And while it might sound like splitting hairs, there’s a huge and important difference. Many consumers classify the misuse of a credit card or an unauthorized charge on a card as identity theft. But that’s not the same as the real identity theft where an individual hijacks a victim’s identity and abuses it multiple times over an extended period – the type of crime that can utterly change a victim’s life.

These new FTC statistics may lull consumers into a false sense of security, now persuaded that even if they do fall victim to identity theft it’s really no big deal. It can be a very big deal, and now’s not the time to drop your guard, even if the news seems a little better.