Poll: With age comes more action on ID theft

Washington residents are a pretty cautious bunch when it comes to protecting themselves against identity theft, according to a newly-released poll conducted last November for Seattle-based PEMCO Insurance. The poll’s surprise is that the generation older than 55, generally considered less tech-savvy than its younger peers, takes more precautions than the younger-than-35 crowd.

The statewide poll found, for instance, that 84 percent of those age 55 or older say they’ve registered with a privacy-protecting “do not call” service. Only 55 percent of those age 35 and younger say they’ve signed up for one of the government-run services.

The older-than-55 generation also is more likely to install security software on personal computers, regularly use a shredder, and retain financial records. Among all ages, 84 percent have installed or upgraded computer security software and 81 percent shred sensitive documents and unwanted mail, the poll found.

PEMCO noted that the greatest area of improvement in identity-theft protection is in residents’ willingness to remove sensitive documents from their wallets. Nearly half of respondents said they have deliberately removed such information from their wallets, up from 39 percent since the company’s first polling in 2008.

PEMCO suggests that residents protect against mail theft by installing locked mailboxes, steps taken today by only one-third of residents.

Washington ranks 17th among states for the number of identity-theft complaints reported per capita, according to the state Attorney General’s office. That marks an improvement over the past half decade. In 2005, Washington reported the seventh highest number of such complaints.

Results of the poll, which was conducted by Seattle-based FBK Research, are available at http://www.pemco.com/poll. Website visitors can also take an informal version of the poll to compare their own responses to the official results.