Identity theft more prevalent offline than on.

• Position: SURVEY SAYS - Brief Article

Despite growing fears about information security and the Internet, the Better Business Bureau says more identity theft occurs offline.

A lost or stolen wallet or checkbook is the most frequently reported source of information used to commit fraud, with computer crimes accounting for just 11.6 percent of all known-cause identity fraud in 2004.

In fact, victims of identity theft who detected the crime online had financial losses less than one-eighth of those who detected the crime via...