More borrowers are using someone else’s identity to obtain real estate loans.
Last year represented the seventh year in a row that identity theft topped the list of consumer fraud complaints the Federal Trade Commission received, according to an annual report the agency released Wednesday. ID theft accounted for 36 percent of the total 674,354 complaints, decreasing from 37 percent of a total 693,519 in 2005.
The figures indicate overall fraud complaints are lower, but the FTC noted that “one major data contributor changed the way in which it codes complaints, and did not code many of its complaints, so comparisons with previous years’ complaint categories are difficult.”
While credit card continued to be the most common form of identity theft reported by victims, real estate loan fraud was associated with 1.3 percent, or 3,198, of the ID theft complaints, according to the report. This is slightly higher than 1.2 percent or 3,067 in the previous year.
The three metropolitan areas with the highest per capita rates of reported identity theft last year were Napa and Madera, Calif., and McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, Texas.
Overall, consumers reported losing $1.1 billion through fraud, with the median monetary loss at $500, and 85 percent of those alleging fraud also reported an amount lost, the FTC said. The metropolitan areas with the highest per capita rates of reported consumer fraud complaints were Greeley, Colo., Albany-Lebanon, Ore., and Napa.
About 60 percent of fraud complaints in which a method of initial contact was reported indicated that such contact was through Internet solicitations, with 45 percent being through e-mail and the rest on the Web. Mail was the second most common initial contact, with 16% reporting such, followed by phone, with 13 percent.
“Consumers’ help in stopping unlawful operations is critical,” said FTC Chairwoman Deborah Platt Majoras in an announcement. “By filing a complaint with the FTC, consumers are making information available to more than 1,600 law enforcement agencies that have access to our secure database.“
