Internet auctions and identity theft and fraud topped the list when it came to consumer complaints to the Federal Trade Commission in 2004.
The online auction complaints (at 16 percent) outnumbered complaints on- and offline about shop-at-home/catalog sales (8 percent), Internet services/computer complaints (6 percent), foreign money offers (6 percent), prizes and contests (5 percent), advance-fee loans and credit protection services, business and work-at-home opportunities (2 percent), telephone services (2 percent), and other miscellaneous categories, according to the FTC's annual report on consumer complaints.
But the report said when it came to the actual crimes, identity theft and fraud made up almost all of the 635,173 total complaints the FTC received last year, and identity theft at 246,570 total complaints accounted for just over a third of the total, while fraud accounted for 388,603 – and Internet fraud accounted for 53 percent of those. Credit card fraud was the most commonly reported identity theft, followed by telephone or utilities fraud, bank fraud, and employment fraud, the report said.
“These are real people who have lost real money and the FTC offers them a direct link to finding a solution,” said FTC chairman Deborah Platt Majoras, announcing the annual report February 1. “By filing complaints, consumers are one click away from thousands of law enforcement partners who can help restore their good name, protect their financial security, and give the FTC the information we need to stop fraud in its tracks.”
Washington, San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara (California), and Las Vegas were the three highest-complaining major metropolitan areas for fraud in 2004, the FTC report said, while those with the highest per-capita identity theft reports were Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale (Arizona), Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario (California), and Las Vegas.
