Identity theft has replaced drug dealing as No. 1 crime in the U.S. And thieves often aren't caught.
http://www.pennlive.com/news/expresstimes/index.ssf?/base/news-5/1185077364273960.xml&coll=2

Identity theft soars to top of modern crime list
http://www.gatewaynewspapers.com/signalitem/focus/84274/

Lynn, I don't actually believe that! But, maybe I'm wrong, my grip on drugs & identity sometimes slips......

re:
http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/aadsm27.htm#44 Threatwatch: how much to MITM, how quickly, how much lost

from posting in thread in crypto mailing list
http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/aadsm27.htm#43 a fraud is a sale, Re: The bank fraud blame game

one of the references mentioned in the above:

Data Security Advanced by New Aleratec Multi-purpose DVD/CD Shredder
http://www.emedialive.com/Articles/ReadArticle.aspx?ArticleID=12940

from above:

Identity Theft and Fraud cost business $600 billion a year, according to the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners.

... snip ...

A year or two ago i tripped across an obscure study that quoted a similar number ... this was after there was some news coverage of a talk that happened to mention the cybercrime being greater

the crypto mailing list post also references a number of different news articles going on in the same period earlier this spring ... one series was that id-fraud was in decline and the other series was that id-fraud was exploding.

and series of news articles from late 2005:

Cybercrime Profits Outpace Drug Trafficking
http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/47559.html
Expert: Cyber-crime Yields More Cash than Drugs
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,1893592,00.asp
Expert: Cyber-crime Yields More Cash than Drugs
http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1697,1893916,00.asp
Cybercrime now outstrips drug trafficking
http://www.cw360asp.com/Articles/2005/11/29/213190/Cybercrimenowoutstripsdrugtrafficking.htm
Cybercrime 'more lucrative' than drugs
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/11/29/cybercrime/
Cybercrime profits exceed those of drugs, expert says
http://www.globetechnology.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20051129/RTICKERB29-2/TPTechnology/
Cybercrime more profitable than illicit drug sales?
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20051129-5648.html

re:
http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/aadsm27.htm#44 Threatwatch: how much to MITM, how quickly, how much lost
http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/aadsm27.htm#45 Threatwatch: how much to MITM, how quickly, how much lost

following is quite a bit less than amount quoted a couple yrs ago ... on the other hand, this report comments that there may some incentive that leads to significant underreporting

Cybercrime Costs US Economy at Least $117B Each Year
http://www.technewsworld.com/story/58517.html
Cybercrime Costs US Economy at Least $117B Each Year
http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/58517.html

from above:

"Whatever is reported by organizations, most of that will likely be underreported because of disincentives to report losses," he told TechNewsWorld.

Reporting remains a major challenge to fighting cybercrime, Powner noted.

... snip ...