NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) - An estimated 3.6 million households, or about 3 percent of all households in the country, have been victims of identity theft, according to the Justice Department.

That's far less the estimated 9.3 million victims reported by a Federal Trade Commission study for the same period.

The estimated total loss during the six-month period in 2004 was about $3.2 billion, the study said.

The Justice Department said households headed by people between 18-24 years old, those in urban or suburban areas and those with incomes of $75,000 or more were the most likely to experience identity theft.

About two-thirds of the households said they lost money and the average loss was $1,290.

About one-third of households that were identity theft victims discovered the loss by noticing missing money or unfamiliar charges on an account, and about a one-quarter were contacted by a credit bureau.

About one-quarter of all victimized households said they were still experiencing problems associated with having their identity stolen. The misuse was more likely to have stopped for households experiencing credit card theft (78 percent) than those experiencing theft of other existing accounts (65 percent) or the misuse of personal information (54 percent), according to the Justice Department.

One-third of the victimized households experienced problems caused by the identity theft, the most common of which was being contacted by a debt collector, followed by problems with bank accounts and credit cards.

About one-in-five households spent at least one month resolving their problems. One-third said the problems were resolved in one day.

The findings represent six-month estimates based on interviews conducted from July through December 2004 for the BJS National Crime Victimization Survey.

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