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Jed Boal ReportingIdentity theft again tops the list of consumer complaints in an annual report released by the Federal Trade Commission. Utah ranks near the top in the number of complaints for fraud and identity theft.
There's a lot of information in the 77 page report from the FTC. Several things are clear, identity theft and crime on-line are flourishing, but quick action by consumers helps investigators fight fraud. Fraud victims in America pay dearly...and the amount a fraud victim loses in a scam grows each year.
In 2003, the average fraud victim lost 18-hundred dollars. Today, it's more than 24-hundred dollars. More than one-third of all fraud complaints in 2005 were for identity theft.
Randy Tuckett, U.S. Postal Inspector: "It takes hours and hours of personal effort and thousands of dollars to clear up their credit after it's been ruined."
Utah ranks seventh in the nation in fraud complaints, and 20th in identity theft victims. State and federal prosecutors chip away at all of that crime with a multi-jurisdictional task force.
Randy Tuckett: "We're able to prosecute all aspects of identity theft -- people stealing it out of the trash can, stealing it off your bank statements. If you go to the FTC website, you'll see good suggestions for protecting your identity."
Number one, don't carry your social security card and never give out the number. Utah consumers filed nearly four-thousand fraud complaints in 2005. The majority of those complaints fell into these categories: internet auctions, foreign money scams and prizes and sweepstakes offers.
Randy Tuckett: "No matter how often we prosecute these individuals and put them in jail, someone is still going to be out there doing this type of fraud. It's so easy on the internet."
Utahns filed more than 15-hundred identity theft complaints, with credit card and bank fraud the most common categories. The postal inspector says consumer education is the key to battling fraud.
Randy Tuckett: "People need to complain when they've been defrauded so that we can take care of the problem and put these people out of business."
For a look at all of the details from the report, including a state-by-state break-down look for the link at the top right of this story.
