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Internet Scam Alert: 2004 Top Fraud Complaints
By Shelley Lockwood
Wow! What an eye opener. I think I said that last year too.
I just finished reviewing the 2004 report National and State Trends in Fraud & Identity Theft January - December 2004.
Ouch! Not pleasant.
I'm going to focus on the www related fraud complaints but before I even get into those numbers I just want to point out again how important it is to learn about identity theft.
It's not fair, but it's a fact of life. I said it last year and I'll say it again, take the time to learn more about identity theft, how it's done, what to do if you're a victim and what you can do to safeguard yourself.
Not sure if you're going to read it? These numbers should help you make up your mind.
Consumer Sentinal number of Identity theft complaints:
2002 161,896
2003 215,093
2004 246,570
Heck if that isn't enough I'll beg. Please learn about identity theft.
That being said let's take a look at Internet-related complaints. The FTC report uses the following definition: "Internet-Related" a fraud complaint is Internet-Related if: it concerns an Internet product or service, the company initially contacts the consumer via the Internet or the consumer responds via the Internet.
Of the total 635,173 fraud complaints received in 2004 388,603 were fraud related 246,570 were identity theft related.
Of the 388,603 complaints of fraud 205,568 were Internet-related. That's over half!
Let's take a look at the numbers for the past three years.
Based on the total number of Sentinel Internet-related fraud complaints by calendar year (2004 report published February 1, 2005)
2002 110,206
2003 176,720
2004 205,568
According to the report the top products/services for Internet-related fraud complaints are:
Internet Auctions 48%
Shop at Home/Catalog Sales 17%
Internet Access Services 10%
Foreign Money Offers 6%
Internet Info. & Adult Services 3%
Computers: Equipment/Software 2%
Business Opportunities and work at home plans 2%
Between Business opps, work at home plans, mlm, pyramid schemes and chainletters there were 16,991 fraud complaints reported.
Another interesting number is that of the
Let's end on a positive note, the number of fraud complaints listed on the report for the following categories were lower than in 2003 :
Investments
Magazines and Buyers Clubs
Travel Vacations and Time Share,
Shop-at-home/catalog sales.
Stay safe!
Shelley
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