Identity theft topped the Federal Trade Commission’s top consumer complaint list in 2007.
Of 813,899 total complaints received in 2007, 258,427, or 32% were related to identity theft, according to the FTC.
The FTC received nearly 140,000 more consumer fraud complaints last year than in 2006.
The report states that credit card fraud was the most common form of reported identity theft at 23%, followed by utilities fraud at 18%, employment fraud at 14%, and bank fraud at 13%.
Consumers reported fraud losses totaling more than $1.2 billion; the median monetary loss per person was $349, according to the FTC.
Following identity theft were 62,811 complaints about shop-at-home catalog sales (8%); Internet services, with 42,226 complaints, (5%); foreign money offers, with 32,868 complaints (4%); prizes/sweepstakes and lotteries, with 322,162 complaints (4%); computer equipment and software, with 27,036 complaints (3%); Internet auctions, with 24,376 complaints (3%); health care claims, with 16,097 complaints (2%); travel, vacations and timeshares, with 14,903 complaints (2%) and advance fee loans and credit protection/repair, with 14,342 complaints (2%).
The FTC collects consumer fraud complaints from more than 125 other organizations and makes them available to more than 1,600 civil and criminal law enforcement agencies in the U.S. and abroad.
