Cybercrimes Remain Most Worrisome to Americans

The frequency with which Americans worry about becoming the victim of a variety of different crimes is similar to last year, as they remain much more likely to fear being victimized by cybercrimes than traditional crimes. Of the 13 crimes measured, only two garner majority-level concern from Americans -- 71% say they frequently or occasionally fear that computer hackers will access their personal, credit card or financial information and 67% worry this often about identity theft.

Gallup has gauged Americans' frequency of worry about a host of crimes annually since 2000, most recently Oct. 1-10. The rank order of the crimes most worrisome to Americans has been generally quite stable since 2009 when Gallup first included worry about identity theft on the list. Since then, identify theft has consistently outpaced anxiety about other non-cybercrimes, with an average 68% saying they "frequently" or "occasionally" worry that they will be victims of it.