Times used to be, a person worried enough about pickpockets to keep personal belongings clutched as close as possible while walking through that dark alley, possibly filled with ruffians. But nowadays, the crime Americans worry about most is another kind of thievery, one you can’t protect yourself against by sticking to well-trafficked streets — namely, that of the credit-card hacking kind.
In a Gallup survey announced this week, the fear many Americans may be feeling in light of recent credit card data breaches at major retailers is showing in the numbers, reports the AFP.
A total of 69% of Americans said they frequently or occasionally worry about computer hackers liftig their credit-card info from stores’ databases. And the only other crime that worries a majority of our countrymen? Hacking and data theft of their computers and smartphones, at 62.%
After that comes home burglaries when they’re away from home (45%) and having a car stolen or broken into (42%).
“Americans today are more worried about their credit card information being hacked from stores than about any other crimes they are asked about, and a relatively high percentage say they have been victims of this hacking,” Gallup said.
To that end, 27% of Americans reported that they or someone else in the household had info from a credit card used at a store stolen by hackers in the last year. That was the most frequently experienced crime on Gallup’s list of nine.
Lower on the list? Being a victim of terrorism got 28%, fear of getting murdered clocked in at 18% and finally, being assaulted or killed on the job by a coworker was at the very bottom at 7%.
So while it seems we’re not too concerned about bodily harm these days, if you shop anywhere ever, the fear of having your credit card hacked not only real, but justified..
Credit-card hacking is Americans’ top crime worry: poll [AFP]
by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist
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