E-mail No. 1 for Fraud Complaints: FTC

E-mail is by far the No. 1 way organizations that generated consumer fraud complaints communicated with people in 2006, according to a recent report by the Federal Trade Commission.

The channel accounted for 45% of the 306,361 fraud complaints the FTC received last year in which the consumer identified the way they initially communicated with the organization they were complaining about, the commission reported last week.

Web sites and other non-e-mail related Internet communications accounted for another 15% of consumer complaints, the FTC reported.

The mail, telephone and others accounted for 16%, 13% and 10%, respectively, according to the FTC.

Meanwhile, for the seventh year in a row, identity theft was the No. 1 consumer fraud complaint in 2006, the FTC reported.

Thirty six percent of the 674,354 complaints the FTC received overall last year were related to identity theft, the commission said.

Credit card fraud was the most common form of identity theft, accounting for 25% of those types of complaints. Telephone and utilities fraud, and bank fraud were tied for No. 2, each accounting for 16% of identity theft complaints, the FTC reported.

Consumers reported $1.1 billion in losses from fraud last year, an average loss of $3,257, according to the FTC. Wire transfers were the No. 1 method of payment in transactions that resulted in fraud complaints, accounting for 23%, the FTC reported. Bank account debits were No. 2, accounting for 20%, according to the FTC.

The metropolitan areas with the highest rates of identity theft complaints in 2006 were Napa, CA, Madera, CA and McAllen-Edinburg-Mission , TX, the FTC reported.

Two categories tied at No. 2 in overall complaints were catalogs and shop-at-home sales, and prizes, sweepstakes and lotteries. Each accounted for 7% of consumer fraud complaints in 2006, according to the FTC.