An estimated 3.6 million U.S. households--or about three out of every 100--reported being <A HREF="http://www.cnn.com/2006/LAW/04/02/id.theft.ap/index.html">victims of identity theft,</A> according to a government study that counted misuse of someone else's cell phone, credit card or personal information. The figures released by the Justice Department differ from findings of a previous government study that counted 9.3 million victims of the crime. An earlier report by the Federal Trade Commission found about 10.1 million people experienced identity theft in 2003 and 9.1 million in 2004. The Justice Department said the different results may be due to differences in the methods used to collect the data, the period of time considered and counting methods.