College students at risk to identity theft

It may seem logical that wealthier demographics include the majority of stolen identity targets, however many identity theft victims are college students, Caller reports. Young adults tend to use their card freely without realizing the consequences of their actions. They may even hand their card over to a friend or relative for a night without thinking twice. According to Javelin Strategy & Research, friendly fraud - or fraud committed by a close member of the victim - accounted for 30 percent of all new account fraud instances in 2010. New account fraud isn't limited to bank or credit card accounts. A con artist can open accounts in the form of gym memberships, magazine subscriptions and online retail store accounts. For instance, if a college student gives his or her card to a friend to go out and purchase pizza for a party, all that person needs is a pen to copy the details of the card and save it for later use. Certain online retailers don't ask anything more than an account number, name and expiration date to verify a transaction, all of which are visible on a credit card.