Auction fraud reports top the list at the Internet Crime Complaint Center
Auction fraud was the most frequently reported complaint received by the Internet Crime Complaint Center in 2004, representing 71% of the consumer complaints the watchdog group referred to law enforcement and regulatory agencies. It’s a 16.7% increase from the volume of auction fraud reported the previous year.
By contrast, referrals of reports of some other categories of complaints dropped from last year. Though non-delivery of merchandise and/or payment represented 15.8% of complaints in 2004, this represented a decline of 24% from 2003 levels, according to the IC3. Credit card and debit card fraud comprised 5% of referred complaints, but this was 22% fewer than last year.
The total dollar loss from all referred cases of fraud in 2004 was $68.14 million. This represents a significant drop from the previous year’s total of $125.6 million, which stemmed from several cases in 2003 which involved individual losses in the millions of dollars. In complaints involving a monetary loss, the median dollar value was $219.56. 32% of these complaints involved losses of less than $100, and 53% reported a loss between $100 and $1,000.
The highest dollar loss per incident was reported by check fraud victims with a median loss of over $5,000. Though the most frequently referred complaint, auction fraud was associated with the lowest average dollar loss of any type of complaint, with a median dollar loss per incident of $200.
IC3 notes that while its primary mission is to receive and refer complaints involving cyber crime, other complaints involving more traditional methods of contact such as telephone and mail also were referred. The group estimates that 88% of all the complaints it referred to law enforcement and regulatory agencies were related to the Internet or online service.
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