For the seventh year in a row, identity theft tops the list of consumer complaints, the Federal Trade Commission said this week.
Identity theft accounted for 36% of the 674,354 complaints received by the agency between Jan. 1 and Dec. 31, 2006, the FTC said in its annual report, “Consumer Fraud and Identity Theft Complaint Data.”
Shop-at-home/catalog sales ranked second at 7%, or 46,995 complaints. Sweepstakes, prizes and lotteries came in third, also at 7%, with 45,587 complaints.
Other complaints on the list include Internet auctions (5%) and magazines and buyers clubs (1%).
“Consumers’ help in stopping unlawful operations is critical,” said FTC Chairman Deborah Platt Majoras, in a statement. “By filing a complaint with the FTC, consumers are making information available to more than 1,600 law enforcement agencies that have access to our secure database.”
Other findings from the report include:
*Consumers reported fraud losses totaling more than $1.1 billion; the median monetary loss was $500.
*Credit card fraud (25%) was the most common form of reported identity theft
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