Financial Crime
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) processed
117,210 reports of identity theft in 2001. (Identity
Theft Data Clearinghouse. 2002. Identity Theft Complaint Data. Washington,
DC: Federal Trade Commission.)
The number of calls reporting complaints to the Identity Theft
Hotline at the FTC increased from 445 calls a week in November
1999 to 3,000 a week in December 2001. (Ibid)
Forty-two percent of reports to the FTC for identity theft in
2001 involved credit card fraud, both unauthorized charges on existing
cards and new credit cards opened in the complainants' names. (Ibid.)
Twenty percent of reports to the FTC in 2001 for identity theft
involved unauthorized use of telecommunications equipment and utilities
in victims' names. (Ibid.)
Thirteen percent of victim reports of identity theft to the FTC
involved fraudulent use of checking and savings account; and seven
percent of victims reporting identity theft involved use of their
name for bank loans. Other kinds of identity theft reported included
forging victims' names on government documents, such as driver's
licenses, tax returns, and social security cards. (Ibid.)
Reports of abuse to the Social Security Administration on the
Fraud Hotline increased from 11,000 in 1998 to 65,000 in 2001.
Eighty-one percent of social security card misuse is related to
identity theft. (Ibid.)
Securities regulators estimate that securities and commodities
fraud totals approximately $40 billion a year. (National
White Collar Crime Center. 2002. Securities Fraud. Richmond,
VA.)
Check fraud is estimated to cost United States businesses $10
billion a year. (National White Collar Crime
Center. 2002. Check Fraud: Richmond, VA.)
There are approximately $500 million worth of checks forged annually (Ibid.)
Consumers and others lose an estimated $40 billion annually to
telemarketing fraud. One out of six consumers is cheated by telemarketing
criminals each year. (National White Collar
Crime Center. 2002. Telemarketing Fraud: Richmond, VA.)
It has been estimated by the U.S. General Accounting Office that
health care fraud totals 10 percent of total healthcare expenditures
each year. Total expenditures currently exceed $1 trillion a year,
which puts annual heath care fraudulent losses at $100 billion. (National
White Collar Crime Center. 2002. Healthcare Fraud: Richmond,
VA.)
After disasters, both natural and man-made, property/casualty
insurance fraud costs Americans up to $20 billion annually. Many
of these are costs are passed down to the consumer through higher
insurance rates. (National White Collar Crime
Center. 2002. Disaster Fraud. Richmond, VA.)
The National Fraud Information Center received reports of Internet
fraud totaling $7,209,196 during the first six months of 2002.
Eighty-seven percent of the losses occurred at online auction sites. (National
Fraud Information Center. 2002. Internet Fraud Statistics. Washington,
DC: National Consumer League.)
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| National Crime Victims' Rights
Week: Fulfill the Promise |
April 6–12, 2003 |
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