Identity theft once again topped the Federal Trade Commission's list of complaints for 2012. Of the 2,061,495 total complaints received by the FTC, almost 370,000 (18%) were related to identity theft.
Similar to previous years, debt collection is second on the list with almost 200,000 (10%) complaints. Half the FTC's complaints (more than a million) were related to some type of fraud.
The majority of identity theft complaints relate to tax ID theft, a growing crime where identity thieves use the victim's social security number to file a fraudulent tax return and receive a refund. Credit card fraud and new utilities accounts were the second and third most common types of identity theft complaints.
Other top complaint categories include: Banks and lenders - 6%, Shop-at-home and catalog sales - 6%, Prizes, sweepstakes and lotteries - 5%. Credit cards were last on the top 10 list with 3% of complaints.
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