Washington Consumer Protection News

FTC Releases Top 10 Consumer Fraud Complaint Categories

The Federal Trade Commission today released its annual report detailing consumer complaints about fraud and identity theft in 2005. Complaints about identity theft topped the list, accounting for 255,000 of more than 686,000 complaints filed with the agency in 2005. The complaints, filed online or at a toll-free number, are shared via a secure database with more than 1,400 federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies, and law enforcement and consumer protection agencies in Canada and Australia.

“With a call or a click, consumers can file complaints with law enforcers across the country and around the world,” said Deborah Platt Majoras, Chairman of the FTC. “These reports provide ammunition that helps law enforcers fight fraud and identity theft.”

Identity theft complaints represented 37 percent of the 686,683 complaints filed. Other top categories of fraud complaints for 2005 include:

• Internet Auctions - 12 percent
• Foreign Money Offers - 8 percent
• Shop-at-Home/Catalog Sales - 8 percent
• Prizes/Sweepstakes and Lotteries - 7 percent
• Internet Services and Computer Complaints - 5 percent
• Business Opportunities and Work-at-Home plans - 2 percent
• Advance-Fee Loans and Credit Protection - 2 percent
• Telephone Services - 2 percent
• Other - 17 percent

Other findings from the report include:

• Internet-related complaints accounted for 46 percent of all fraud complaints.
• The percent of Internet-related fraud complaints with “wire transfer” as the reported payment method more than tripled between 2003 and 2005.
• The major metropolitan areas with the highest per capita rates of consumer fraud reported were Washington, DC; Tampa/St. Petersburg/Clearwater, FL; and Seattle, WA.
• Credit card fraud was the most common form of reported identity theft, followed by phone or utilities fraud, bank fraud, and employment fraud.
• The most frequently reported type of identity theft bank fraud was electronic funds transfers.
   

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