SCAMS AND ID THEFT- FTC Issues a Summary of Complaints

We have been bombarded with information about scams, ID theft, and cybersecurity. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) takes millions of complaints from consumers about fraud, scams, ID theft and many other consumer crimes. Recently, the FTC issued a report showing the trends in fraud in 2017.

Overall, the number of complaints about fraud dropped from 2.98 million in 2016 to 2.68 million in 2017. However, consumers reported losing more money in 2017 than in 2016.

·         2017- $905 million

·         2016- $842 million

·         An increase of $63 million

Top three consumer complaints:

1.      Debt collection. Declined from 2016. Still the top category with 23% of all complaints.

2.      Identity theft made up 14% of complaints.

a.       Credit card fraud most common ID theft.

b.      Tax fraud second most common ID theft despite falling by 46% from 2016.

3.      Imposter scams. Consumers reported losing substantially more money to imposter scams, $328 million, than any other type of fraud.

There were trends among different age groups also. Of the 20-29-year old's who reported fraud, 40% said that they lost money. Of those aged 70+, 18% said that they lost money. Of the 20-29-year old’s who reported a loss of money, their median average loss was $400. Of those aged 80+, their median average loss was $1,092.

The report also broke out the statistics by state. For Washington State,

·         Under fraud and other reports/losses, Washington State ranked 25^th with a total of 38,549 total fraud and other reports. The Median fraud loss in Washington was $460.

·         Under Identity Theft reports, Washington ranked 16^th with a total of 7,360 reports.

The top ten fraud or scam categories that were reported in Washington included:

·         Imposter scams- 19%

·         Identity theft- 16%

·         Debt collection- 13%

·         Banks and lenders- 10%

·         Telephone and mobile services- 9%

·         Shop-at-home and catalog sales- 6%

·         Auto related- 5%

·         Prizes, sweepstakes and lotteries- 5%

·         Credit bureaus, information furnishers and report users- 4%

·         Television and electronic media- 3%

The top identity theft types that consumers reported in Washington included:

·         Credit card fraud- 44%

·         Bank fraud- 18%

·         Employment- or tax-related fraud- 17%

·         Phone or utilities fraud- 12%

·         Government documents or benefits fraud- 6%

Federal Trade Commission:

https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2018/03/ftc-releases-annual-summary-complaints-reported-consumers

If you are victimized by a fraud or scam, report it to,

FTC Complaint Assistant:

https://www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov/#crnt