For the fourth year in a row, identity theft topped the Federal Trade Commission’s annual list of consumer complaints, accounting for 42% of those filed in the organization’s Consumer Sentinel Database.
The FTC received more than half a million complaints in 2003, up from 404,000 in 2002. Internet-related complaints accounted for 55 % of all fraud reports, up from 45% in 2002.
Other organizations, including the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, The National Consumers League’s National Fraud Information Center, Canada’s Phonebusters, and Better Business Bureaus also contribute data to the file.
The top 10 categories of consumer fraud complaints in 2003 included Internet auctions (15%); shop-at-home/catalog sales (9%); Internet services or computer complaints (6%); prizes, sweepstakes and lotteries (5%); foreign money orders (4%); advance fee loans and credit protection (4%); telephone services (3%); business opportunity/work at home plans (2%); magazine buyers clubs (1%); and office supplies and services (1%).
The major metropolitan areas with the highest per capita rates of reported consumer fraud were Washington, DC; Seattle/Bellevue/Everett, WA; and San Diego, CA.
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