The Federal Trade Commission's (FTC) statistical survey of
fraud in the United States shows that nearly 25 million adults or 11.2 percent
of the adult population were victims of fraud during the year studied.
Advance-fee Loan Scams; the most frequently reported type of
consumer fraud:
This scam involves consumers paying a fee for a
“guaranteed” loan or credit card. 4 1/2 million
consumers paid advance fees but did not receive the promised loan or card. In
fact, some consumers reported that more than once during the last year they
paid fees to get loans or credit cards they did not get.
Buyers’ Club Memberships and Unordered Publications; the
second most commonly reported fraud! Four million consumers were billed for
memberships they did not authorize or publications they did not order. Credit
card insurance scams and credit repair were the third and fourth most common
frauds identified in the survey.
While federal law limits consumers’ credit card fraud
liability to $50, fraudsters sell credit card insurance by falsely claiming
that card holders face significant financial risk if their credit cards are
misused. An estimated 3.3 million consumers bought unnecessary insurance
against the unauthorized use of their credit cards. Some fraudsters convince
consumers that they can help them remove truthful, negative information from
their credit report, or establish a new credit record. They can't, and
credit repair schemes are illegal, but two million consumers paid for
“credit repair” services the year prior to the survey.
Use this link to learn how to protect yourself from credit
fraud and other credit-related scams and how to repair your own credit free:
Credit and Identity Theft
Guard
The top 10 frauds listed in the FTC report include:
- Advance-fee loan scams 4.55 million victims;
- Buyers clubs 4.05 million victims;
- Credit card insurance 3.35 million victims;
- Credit repair 2 million victims;
- Prize promotions 1.8 million victims;
- Internet services 1.75 million victims;
- Pyramid schemes 1.55 million victims;
- Information services .8 million victims;
- Government job offers .65 million victims; and
- Business opportunities .45 million victims.
In addition to the fraud categories, the survey found that an
estimated 13.9 million consumers were victims of telephone “slamming”
unauthorized and illegal changes in long distance telephone service.