Fear of Fraud Bigger Than Terrorism

Since that terrible attack on 9/11, Americans have been understandably afraid of terrorism. But with the recent worldwide economic meltdown, most Americans are now more concerned about economic terrorism. And so is the federal government.

First, a global forecast that looks out to 2025 and conducted by the National Intelligence Council reported last month that global power is shifting from West to East with energy and economic issues being the key drivers of the shift. According to Aviation Week and Space Technology, “the report also warned that the diffusion of scientific knowledge and technology will place dangerous capabilities within reach of terrorist organizations.”

Then just this past week a new survey was released showing Americans are more afraid of cyber thieves and other fraudsters getting into their wallets than they are of terror attacks on the country. The bi-annual study samples consumer attitudes about security issues. The survey polled 1,000 Americans and was conducted Feb. 20-22 by the Lieberman Research Group.

And according to the Unisys Security Index, job losses, salary cuts and the general strain of economic uncertainty have increased consumers' fears of getting ripped off. No wonder, since recent news reports highlight crackdowns by federal and state officials on mortgage scams. Surveys find nearly three-quarters of Americans believe the global recession has made them more vulnerable to identity theft or some other fraud.

"As the trends show, identity theft is occurring at an exponential rate where you have gone from hundreds of thousands to millions of people having their identity stolen," said Sidney Pearl, Unisys director of Risk Intelligence.

According to the Unisys Security Index, “more than two-thirds of Americans are extremely or very concerned about having their credit card information stolen. More than 40 percent of Americans were found to be extremely or very concerned about viruses or unsolicited e-mails. Two-thirds of Americans are "seriously" concerned about unauthorized access to "” or misuse of "” personal information.

I am old enough to remember when our biggest challenge was defending freedom against communism. Now it seems our biggest challenge is defending capitalism against itself.

(Brian Banmiller is a national Business Correspondent for CBS News Radio, free lance writer and public speaker. The former television business news anchor in San Francisco can be reached at brian@banmilleronbusiness.com .)