WASHINGTON—Despite rising cybercrime, the percentage of Americans who said they had credit card information stolen by hackers is down this year over 2014, according to a new report.
Gallup reports that 22% of Americans in 2015 said they had card data compromised, compared with 27% who reported the same in 2014.
In Gallup's 2015 Crime Survey, U.S. adults were asked if they or family members were victims of nine different crimes in the past 12 months. These crimes range from credit card theft to sexual assault. Last year, when Gallup first included credit card hacking on the list, more Americans said they had been a victim of it than of any other crime. Although fewer Americans say they were victims of credit card theft this year, it remains the highest reported crime in 2015, Gallup said.
Gallup noted that 2014 was a record year for hacking, in which millions of customers' credit card information was stolen, crediting EMV as contributing to the decline in the number of Americans reporting fraud instances in 2015.
The poll also shows that 34% of Americans worry "frequently" and 35% "occasionally" about having their credit card information stolen. While the combined 69% who worry matches the 2014 figure, the percentage who worry frequently is down from 41%, while the percentage who worry occasionally is up.
“This indicates that while Americans are concerned about their credit card information being hacked from stores where they shopped, it is less troubling to them now than it was last year,” Gallup said.