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Consumer Fraud Cases Up In 2007, FTC Reports

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The Associated Press

Published: February 14, 2008

WASHINGTON - Americans reported 20 percent more cases of consumer fraud in 2007 than the year before, with nearly a third of complaints related to identity theft, the government said Wednesday.

Out of some 810,000 cases of consumer fraud reported, the Federal Trade Commission said there were more than 258,000 instances of identity theft, the top complaint for the eighth year in a row.

But most of the increase in complaints stemmed from other types of fraud, including shop-at-home and catalog sales, Internet services and "foreign money offers."

The annual report is based on data collected by the FTC and 125 other organizations, including law enforcement agencies and private groups.

Consumer fraud, not including identity theft, cost consumers approximately $1.24 billion, up from $1.18 billion in 2006. The FTC did not estimate losses caused by identity theft.

Identity theft, which involves the use of personal information such as credit card or Social Security numbers to commit fraud or other crimes, made up 32 percent of the total complaints, the FTC said.

The slight increase in identity theft complaints contradicts the results of a nationwide survey released this week by Javelin Research, which found identity theft declined in 2007. Javelin estimates that 8.1 million Americans were victims of ID fraud in 2007, down from 8.4 million a year earlier and 10.1 million in 2003.

The total cost of ID fraud also dropped, the Javelin study found, to $45 billion from $51 billion a year earlier and $56 billion in 2003.

Among the FTC's identity theft complaints, credit card fraud was the most common, accounting for 23 percent of reports, followed by utilities fraud at 18 percent and employment fraud at 14 percent.

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