After the IC3 list released earlier, the FTC publishes it’s own list of ‘Consumer Complaints’ for 2010
The Federal Trade Commission today released the list of top consumer complaints received by the agency in 2010. And for the 11th year in a row, identity theft was number one. Of 1,339,265 complaints received in 2010, 250,854 (19%) were related to identity theft. Debt collection complaints were in second place, with 144,159 complaints.
For the first time, “imposter scams†– where imposters posed as friends, family, respected companies or government agencies to get consumers to send them money – made the top 10. The FTC also has issued a new consumer alert, “Spotting an Imposterâ€, to help consumers avoid imposter scams.
The top consumer complaints were:
| Rank | Category | Number of Complaints | Percentage |
| 1 | Identity Theft | 250,854 | 19% |
| 2 | Debt Collection | 144,159 | 11% |
| 3 | Internet Services | 65,565 | 5% |
| 4 | Prizes, Sweepstakes and Lotteries | 64,085 | 5% |
| 5 | Shop-at-Home and Catalog Sales | 60,205 | 4% |
| 6 | Imposter Scams | 60,158 | 4% |
| 7 | Internet Auctions | 56,107 | 4% |
| 8 | Foreign Money/Counterfeit Check Scams | 43,866 | 3% |
| 9 | Telephone and Mobile Services | 37,388 | 3% |
| 10 | Credit Cards | 33,258 | 2% |
The Federal Trade Commission works for consumers to prevent fraudulent, deceptive, and unfair business practices and to provide information to help spot, stop, and avoid them.
I never thought I would or either one of my family would be a victim to “imposter” scams. It seemed quite unreal to me. But recently some guy claiming to be from Mexico called and my mom answered. The guy said he was her “favorite nephew.” My mom thought it was actually a relative but then she realized that the call sounded a little weird because the guy kept calling her Aunt… So she called the relatives that live with that nephew. Turns out her nephew was asleep during one of the calls. So we looked the number up and yeah, i found many sites stating the same stories – http://www.everycall.us/phone-number/1-333-589-0071/. The guy called the next day asking for the address and we never gave it to him.