An estimated 3.6 million--or 3.1 percent--of American households became victims of identity theft in 2004, according to a survey released on Sunday by the U.S. Department of Justice.

The study, based on the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) which surveyed 42,000 households, found the most likely families to suffer identity theft included those with a young head of household (18 to 24 years of age) and those in the highest income bracket (greater than $75,000 per year). The study defined identity theft as the unauthorized use or attempted use of existing credit cards, accounts such as checking or brokerage accounts, or the misuse of information to obtain new credit accounts or to commit crimes.

Half of all respondents discovered the identity theft after unknown charges were made against an account or they had problems with banking. The misuse of their personal information resulted in one out of three people being contacted by a debt collector or having trouble using their bank account. A quarter of all households experiencing identity theft had problems with credit cards, and one out of six had to pay higher interest rates. The majority of victims lost less than $500, according to the report.

Identity theft, or fraud due to impersonation, has become the growth crime of the twenty-first century. Several massive data breaches in the past six months has lead to an enormous increase in debit-card fraud cases, requiring that consumers be on the watch for potential scams that steal their data or information.

The number of cases of identity theft across U.S. households as found by the DOJ study is about three times lower than estimated in a study released by the Federal Trade Commission in 2003 and updated by the Better Business Bureau last year.