Jane Edwards
A new report by LexisNexis Risk Solutions and the Identity Theft Resource Center has found that 42 percent of individuals who applied for pandemic-related benefits said they were victims of identity fraud that resulted in them either being denied benefits or being recipients of benefits they had not applied for.
ITRC and LexisNexis Risk Solutions surveyed more than 1,800 self-identified identity crime victims, consumers and government officials for the report and found that 24 percent of victims said their cases took six to 12 months to address and 8 percent of victims in 2021 said they consider their cases unresolved in April 2022, the two organizations said in a joint release published Thursday.
According to the study, nearly 60 percent of government leaders said they have initiated technology modernization efforts since January 2020 and 31 percent said they have improved their identity verification process with additional steps.
Other improvements adopted by respondents are adding new tools and vendors and transitioning to an automated system for identity verification.
“The pandemic put an unprecedented strain on government benefit systems,” said Haywood Talcove, CEO, Government, LexisNexis Risk Solutions and LexisNexis Special Services.
“Studies such as this can help us improve technology and continue to assist government agencies as they work to provide critical services to deserving citizens,” added Talcove, a 2022 Wash100 Award winner.
The report also showed that 16 percent of consumers expressed no concerns with providing government agencies with the requested identity credentials, while 48 percent of respondents said they were concerned that a data breach could expose their personal data.
Other consumer concerns identified in the report are government surveillance, employee misuse, profiling and identity confusion.
