Identity theft tops complaints to FTC

IDENTITY THEFT was the major consumer complaint in the US in 2010, according to a report published today by the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC).

A whopping 1.34 million complaints were received by the FTC last year, with 19 per cent of them, or 250,854, focusing on identity theft.

The figure is worrying, particularly considering the FTC's last report saw identity theft on top as well. It's also likely that this is the primary consumer complaint in the UK and Europe.

While it is not clear why identity theft is so high, security and privacy concerns on popular websites like Facebook are likely a contributing factor. More and more people appear to be lax with their information online and today's figures bear out the results of that carefree approach.

Debt collection was the second highest complaint to the FTC, at 11 per cent, while Internet services came in third at five per cent.

Imposter scams were in sixth place at four per cent, while Internet auctions followed in seventh place with a similar four per cent.

Telephone and mobile services complaints came in at ninth place with three per cent of complaints. µ