NCJ Number
204661
Date Published
January 2003
Length
68 pages
Annotation
This report presents national data on consumer fraud and identity theft complaints for the years 2000 through 2002 that were reported to the Consumer Sentinel.
Abstract
Beginning in 1997, the Consumer Sentinel, which was developed and maintained by the Federal Trade Commission, began collecting complaints about consumer fraud and identity theft. Between January and December 2002, the Consumer Sentinel received 380,103 consumer fraud and identity theft complaints, which cost consumers a total of $343 million. Tables are presented that show the total complaints received by the Consumer Sentinel from 2000 to 2002, fraud complaints during these years, the top complaint categories, and the top data contributors to the Sentinel. The top complaint categories to the Sentinel for 2002 were identity theft (43 percent of complaints) and Internet auctions (13 percent of complaints). Tables break down fraud complaints by the reported amount paid, method of payment, method of contacting consumers, and by consumer age. Similar tables are offered for Internet-related fraud. In terms of identity theft, information is provided about how victims’ information is misused; data are broken down by fraud type and subtype. For example, credit card fraud occurred in 42 percent of cases. Of these credit card frauds, 24.4 percent of them involved opening new credit card accounts while only 12.1 percent involved an existing consumer account. Tables also present information on identity theft in 2002 by age of victim and by law enforcement contact. The remainder of the report provides fraud and identity theft complaints and victims by State for all 50 States and the District of Columbia. The District of Columbia reported the most fraud and identity theft complaints of all States in 2002, with 844 fraud complaints and 704 identity theft victims during the year. Detailed State information provides data on the top fraud complaint categories, the amount paid by State residents, the top cities of the State for fraud and identity theft complaints, and identity theft types. Tables, graphs, appendix