Identity Theft Is the Most Common Complaint FTC Receives

The Federal Trade Commission reports that the most common type of complaints received last year were about identity theft and amounted to 19% of the total.

FTC's 2010 Top Consumer Complaints list is based on categorizing 1,339,265 reports received last year from individuals.

A number of 250,854 of those were related to identity theft, making it the number one category, followed by debt collection with 144,159 (11%).

The other categories scored less than half of that, starting with Internet services at 5%, which was almost on par with prizes, sweepstakes and lotteries.

Shop-at-home and catalog sales amounted to 4% of complaints and so did impostor scams and Internet auctions.

The rest of the list is completed by foreign money/counterfeit check scams (3%), telephone and mobile services (3%), and credit cards (2%).

This is the first time when impostor scams make it in the top ten list and they're already positioned at the number six spot.

Because the increasing prevalence of such scams, the FTC has released a consumer alert called "Spotting an Impostor" which advises people regarding the most common deceptive methods used by such attackers.

Around half (54%) of all complaints received in 2010 were related to fraud and 86% of those resulted in monetary loses. The loses are estimated at over $1.7 billion and the average amount paid by individuals was $594.

The majority of frauds were launched through the Internet. Out of the complaints that specified a point of contact, 45% said email and 11% websites.

As far as identity theft goes, the most common type is government documents/benefits fraud (19%), followed by credit card fraud (15%), phone utilities fraud (14%) and employment fraud (11%). Bank fraud and loan fraud amounted to 10% and 4% of complaints respectively.