Increased Protection Versus the Cost of Increased Protection: Victimization and the Use of Protective Measures Against Identity Theft

• Author: Alexander J. Vanhee
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/00938548221105824
• Published date: 01 December 2022
• Date: 01 December 2022
• Subject Matter: Articles

CRIMINAL JUSTICE AND BEHAVIOR, 2022, Vol. 49, No. 12, December 2022, 1779 –1799.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/00938548221105824

Article reuse guidelines: sagepub.com/journals-permissions

© 2022 International Association for Correctional and Forensic Psychology

1779

INCREASED PROTECTION VERSUS THE COST

OF INCREASED PROTECTION

Victimization and the Use of Protective Measures

Against Identity Theft

ALEXANDER J. VANHEE

Pennsylvania State University

Most identity theft victims experience no personal monetary loss or other financial problems; rational choice theory suggests

that this could lead people to not change their behavior, increasing their future risk of victimization. Consequently, the current

study will investigate if and how the severity and incidence of identity theft affect individuals’ protective behavior using the

2016 Identity Theft Supplement (ITS) victimization survey. It uses ordinary least squares (OLS) regression to predict the

number of protective measures practiced and multinomial logistic regression to predict self-reported motivation for use of

protective measures. The results indicate that victims use more protective measures than nonvictims and that victimization

has a greater impact if it occurs repeatedly and/or the victims personally lost money or experienced other financial problems.

However, there is evidence of a threshold effect. The multinomial results indicate victims who lost money or experienced

other financial problems are more likely to say they practice protective measures because of their victimization.

Keywords: victimizations; quantitative methods; crime prevention; decision-making; fear of crime

If one where to ask a random person what crime they were most concerned about, there is

a reasonable chance they would answer “identity theft.” It is one of the fastest growing

crimes of the 21st century with millions of people becoming victims every year (Copes

et al., 2010; Holt & Turner, 2012). Furthermore, law enforcement is largely unable to pre-

vent these crimes, leaving the onus on individuals to protect themselves (Albrecht et al.,

2011; Gilbert & Archer, 2012; Reyns, 2013). Yet despite widespread concerns regarding

identity theft, there are many who do very little or even nothing to protect themselves from

it (Harrell & Langton, 2019; Roberts et al., 2013).

Although there is relatively little research on individual differences in use of identity

theft protective measures, the rational choice perspective may provide a framework for

AUTHORS’ NOTE: I have no conflicts of interest to disclose. Correspondence concerning this article should

be addressed to Alexander J. Vanhee, Department of Sociology and Criminology, Pennsylvania State University,

211 Oswald Tower 1017, State College, PA 16802; e-mail: ajv98@psu.edu.

1105824CJBXXX10.1177/00938548221105824Criminal Justice and BehaviorVanhee / Victimization and ID Theft Protective Measures

research-article2022

1780 CRIMINAL JUSTICE AND BEHAVIOR

these decisions. It suggests that people make choices based on the costs and benefits of

perceived options. They choose the option that they perceive to have the greatest net utility

compared with available alternatives (Hechter & Kanazawa, 1997; Hudik, 2019; Loughran

et al., 2016; Matsueda et al., 2006). This calculus should apply to everyone in all contexts,

including when it comes to decisions about protective behaviors. They weigh the perceived

risks and costs of being victimized against the perceived benefits and costs of using protec-

tive measures. People base these perceptions on information from multiple sources, includ-

ing personal experiences of victimization (Anwar & Loughran, 2011; Averdijk, 2011; Cook,

1986; Loughran et al., 2016; Wilcox & Land, 1996). Under the umbrella of the rational

choice perspective, the process of Bayesian Updating suggests that individuals form subjec-

tive estimations or prior beliefs of their risk of identity theft victimization which change if

they experience victimization, creating updated posterior beliefs (Anwar & Loughran,

2011). However, even when prior estimations or beliefs are updated, individuals may decide

that it is not worth it to increase their use of identity theft protective measures.

Once insurance and/or other forms of reimbursement are considered, most people who

experience identity theft pay nothing out of pocket, while institutions such as creditors take

the losses (Harrell & Langton, 2019; Roberts et al., 2013). In addition, several identity theft

protective measures (credit monitoring and security software) can cost hundreds of dollars.

Even free ones such as checking credit reports or changing passwords require users to regu-

larly devote time and effort to perform them. As a result, individuals may decide it is better

to risk a potentially harmful event rather than use protective measures. This can be danger-

ous as past identity theft victimization can increase the likelihood of being victimized again

(Burnes et al., 2020), causing even more harm to individuals and creditors. To avoid that, it

is necessary to encourage the use of protective measures among the public; to be successful,

it is necessary to understand what factors are considered when making decisions about the

use of identity theft protective measures. The present study aims to further that understand-

ing by analyzing whether and how the incidence and severity of identity theft victimization

affect use of protective measures. More specifically, it focuses on whether respondents

practice more protective measures if they have been victimized more than once, have lost

money, and/or have experienced other financial problems because of their victimization.

Furthermore, a secondary goal of this study is to attain a firmer grasp on the effects of

demographic characteristics on use of protective measures. Previous research on identity

theft protective measures has generated disparate findings on whether certain groups are

more or less likely to use protective measures. As a result, the present study will utilize a

large, nationally representative sample to aid in the identification of which groups, if any,

may be less likely to utilize protective measures, leaving them more vulnerable to identity

theft victimization.

LITERATURE REVIEW

IDENTITY THEFT

Despite its current pervasiveness, identity theft as it is understood today is a relatively

recent phenomenon. Identity theft was not legally recognized as a distinct type of crime

within the United States until the late 1990s (Allison et al., 2005; Newman & McNally,

2005). Before then, it was treated as various types of fraud by law enforcement. As such,

there is less research on identity theft compared with other crimes although what there is