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NEW YORK (Reuters) - Federal regulators warn that the Internet is the thriving frontier for identity theft, but 72 percent of the thefts of personal information for scams last year was done offline, a new report says.
Identity theft—the practice of stealing someone's personal information and running up bills in their name—cost Americans $52.6 billion last year, the report says.
Thieves got their victims' bank or credit information online in just 12 percent of the cases.
Identity thieves aren't making a killing electronically—they're picking through trash and thumbing through lost or stolen wallets, said James Van Dyke, principal analyst at Javelin Strategy & Research, a Pleasanton, California financial consulting firm that conducted the study.
Friends, family members and neighbors account for half of all known thieves, and on average cost a consumer $15,607. That compares with $2,320 for an online huckster.
"It's still so much easier to grab something from a desk or from the trash," Van Dyke said.
While some consumers fear logging on to gain access to financial accounts for security concerns, the Internet is the best way to catch fraud early, he said.
Americans are slowly becoming aware that monitoring account balances via the Internet beats waiting out the 30-day paper mail cycle for statements, which might not reach their hands.
When victims discovered fraud through the Internet, their loss was $551. But when they realized the fraud only after receiving mailed statements, it cost them $4,543, the report said.
"That 'Time is money' is a business axiom," Van Dyke said, "but it's true for criminals as well."
The Federal Trade Commission is now fielding more inquiries than complaints about identity theft—a sign that consumers are taking steps to protect themselves.
The Javelin survey of 38 questions was based on telephone interviews with 4,000 consumers, including 509 victims of identity fraud. | 
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