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Introduction
Identity theft has received increasing media attention in recent history and has been labeled as one of the fasting growing crimes in the USA (Piquero et al., 2011). Although framed as a cybercrime, the majority of methods used by its perpetrators are surprisingly simple, such as dumpster-diving for intact personal documents (Newman, 2008; Copes and Vieraitis, 2009a). Simple methods by identity theft perpetrators also mean that individuals can take simple self-protective measures against identity theft – an understudied area in the literature. Newer studies of identity theft have focused on identity theft victimization (Reyns, 2013; Reyns and Henson, 2016), risk factors (Milne et al., 2009), physical and mental outcomes of victimization (Golladay and Holtfreter, 2017) and reporting behaviors of victims (Golladay, 2017; Reyns and Randa, 2017). To date, however, little is known about what happens before identity theft strikes. Knowledge about individual self-protection measures is especially important considering that the lifetime risk of experiencing identity theft in the USA is 15 per cent (Harrell, 2015).
The current study seeks to examine the demographic predictors of individuals who take measures to protect themselves from identity theft victimization. This line of inquiry is important to pursue because taking proactive steps to prevent or minimize harm from identity theft is just as important as addressing identity theft victimization. Identity theft, unlike other forms of theft, is not immediately obvious to the victim and is a difficult form of victimization to resolve given that victims do not only experience a direct financial loss; those affected also have to deal with reinstating their financial reputation and proving to different parties that they were indeed victims of identity theft (Copes and Vieraitis, 2009b). As such, this study therefore addresses the gap in scholarship on identity theft prevention by applying the concept of guardianship in Cohen and Felson’s (1979) routine activity theory to the usage of self-protection measures in a general population. By doing so, the current study seeks to paint a demographic portrait of individuals who protect themselves against identity theft.
Review of literature
Identity theft self-prevention
Prior research on identity theft prevention has focused on consumer attitudes and behaviors but not demographic characteristics. Although a universal definition for identity theft does not yet exist, identity theft generally...