NCJ Number
207581
Date Published
February 2005
Length
71 pages
Annotation
This report analyzes complaints received by the Federal Trade Commission on consumer fraud and identity theft, as well as the trends in fraud and identity theft for the year 2004.
Abstract
In the year 2004, Consumer Sentinel, the complaint database developed and maintained by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) received over 635,000 consumer fraud and identity theft complaints with consumers reporting losses from fraud of more than $547 million. This report presents trends in both fraud and identity theft from complaints filed with the FTC between January and December 2004. Select findings or trends include: (1) a total of 388,603 of the 635,000 complaints were fraud-related with Internet auctions leading the complaint category; (2) about 57 percent of fraud complaints where the company’s method of initial contact was reported indicated Internet solicitations, electronic mail, and Web; (3) credit card fraud (28 percent) was the most common form of reported identity theft followed by phone or utilities fraud (19 percent); and (4) the major metropolitan areas with the highest per capita rates of identity theft are Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, AZ; Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA; and Las Vegas-Paradise, NV. Charts, graphs, tables, and appendixes A-D