Be Sure Verb Agrees with the SUBJECT, Not the Phrase Object

While visiting a local bank this week (like most of us in this current financial crisis), I found myself preoccuped with a poster set up on the desk of the banker. This was the headline:

1 in 4 Households Become an Identity Theft Victim

Good information, but poorly worded. This sentence is NOT saying that several households become victims. It is saying that one household becomes a victim (all singular).

The sentence should be written as follows:

1 in 4 Households Becomes an Identity Theft Victim

Do watch out for identity theft--as well as subject/verb agreement goofs. You do not want to be the one person in four who loses his identity.