Of the 1.2 million complaints filed with the Federal Trade Commission last year, the largest share by far (26 percent) involved identity theft. Complaints about bill collectors ranked second. This data is all contained on a giant computer database called the “Consumer Sentinel Network,” which crunches people’s gripes and spits out leads to law enforcement and consumer protection investigators. I’d love to have this database on my mainframe, but it’s for cops only: “Consumer Sentinet is free and available to any federal, state or local law enforcement agency. In addition, Consumer Sentinel information is also available to select international law enforcement authorities.”

Still, the agency regularly uses the database to report on consumer complaints. Your average fraud victim lost $440 last year, or $1.8 billion, if you add them all up.

Last year, Minnesota accounted for 16,787 complaints to the FTC (and I thought Whistleblower got a lot of complaints), according to the FTC’s annual Consumer Sentinel Network report. 3,528 of those involved identity theft, defined by the agency as “When someone appropriates your personal identifying information (like your Social Security number or credit card account number) to commit fraud or theft.”

Complaints to the FTC (slogan: Protecting America’s Consumers) have been rising steadily, more than quintupling since 2000. The top state to be victimized by identity theft (per capita): Arizona. Top state for other kinds of fraud (per capita): Colorado. Minnesota is basically in the middle for both categories.

Here’s the full list of 2008 FTC complaints nationwide, with the type followed by the number:

1 Identity Theft 313,982
2 Third Party and Creditor Debt Collection 104,642
3 Shop-at-Home and Catalog Sales 52,615
4 Internet Services 52,102
5 Foreign Money Offers and Counterfeit Check Scams 38,505
6 Credit Bureaus, Information Furnishers and Report Users 34,940
7 Prizes, Sweepstakes and Lotteries 33,340
8 Television and Electronic Media 25,930
9 Banks and Lenders 22,890
10 Telecom Equipment and Mobile Services 22,387
11 Computer Equipment and Software 21,442
12 Business Opportunities, Employment Agencies and Work-at-Home 20,286
13 Internet Auction 17,294
14 Advance-Fee Loans and Credit Protection/Repair 17,263
15 Health Care 16,275
16 Auto Related Complaints 14,278
17 Travel, Vacations and Timeshare Plans 13,200
18 Credit Cards 13,196
19 Magazines and Buyers Clubs 10,188
20 Telephone Services 9,300

This entry was posted on Monday, March 2nd, 2009 at 5:09 pm and is filed under Businesses in hot water, Buyer beware, Public records. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.