WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — Identity theft remained a leading concern in 2014 for the fifteenth year in a row in the United States amid a record number of imposter scam cases, the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) said in a statement on Friday.
“Identity theft topped the Federal Trade Commission’s national ranking of consumer complaints for the 15th consecutive year,” the statement said, referring to its 2014 Consumer Sentinel Network Data Book.
The statement added that concerns about debt collection remained in second place on the FTC list.
“The agency also recorded a large increase in the number of complaints about so-called ‘imposter’ scams,” it said.
Imposter scams moved to third place in the Consumer Sentinel Data Book, and the increase was caused by a greater number of complaints about Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and other government agencies’ imposter scams, the statement said.
FTC Bureau of Consumer Protection Jessica Rich said in the statement that consumers need to keep an eye out for imposter scams.
“Whether it’s pretending to be the IRS during tax season, or making false promises of a lottery win, scammers are increasingly sophisticated in their efforts to deceive consumers, but the FTC will continue working to shut these scammers down,” Rich said.
The Consumer Sentinel Network Data Book is produced annually by the FTC, and includes consumer complaints made directly to the Commission, as well as complaints received by US state and federal law enforcement agencies, national consumer protection organizations, and non-governmental organizations, the statement said.
