Each year I eagerly await the annual Federal Trade Commission report on Consumer Fraud and Identity Theft Complaint Data. It has been available for the last few days and confirms that after a three year stability period, the situation is moving.

For the first time since 2004, the three complaints indicators are increasing. In 2007, the FTC received over 810,000 Consumer Sentinel complaints when they had never taken over 700,000 in any previous year. As ever, Identity Theft is the main complaint category. It has reached 32%. In 2007, 64% of fraud complaints involved unscrupulous companies initially contacting consumers over the Internet. This percentage has grown year after year. It was 60% in 2006 and 55% in 2005. E-mail contact is the most frequent method.

Consumers reported fraud losses totaling more than $1.2 billion; the median monetary loss per person was $349, the report states.

With this report, FTC released its top 20 complaint list is follow :

Rank
Category
Complaints
%
1 Identity Theft 258,427 32
2 Shop-at-Home/Catalog Sales 62,811 8
3 Internet Services 42,266 5
4 Foreign Money Offers 32,868 4
5 Prizes/Sweepstakes and Lotteries 32,162 4
6 Computer Equipment and Software 27,036 3
7 Internet Auctions 24,376 3
8 Health Care Claims 16,097 2
9 Travel, Vacations, and Timeshares 14,903 2
10 Advance-Fee Loans and Credit Protection/Repair 14,342 2
11 Investments 13,705 2
12 Magazines and Buyers Clubs 12,970 2
13 Business Opportunities and Work-at-Home Plans 11,362 1
14 Real Estate (Not Timeshares) 9,475 1
15 Office Supplies and Services 9,211 1
16 Telephone Services 8,155 1
17 Employ. Agencies/Job Counsel/Overseas Work 5,932 1
18 Debt Management/Credit Counseling 3,442
19 Multi-Level Mktg./Pyramids/Chain Letters 3,092
20 Charitable Solicitations 1,843