Identity Theft Tops Nation's Top Ten Consumer Complaints
Identity theft topped the list of fastest-growing complaints to state and local consumer protection agencies last year, according to the latest report from the annual survey conducted by Consumer Federation of America (CFA) and the North American Consumer Protection Investigators (NACPI). Thirty-seven consumer agencies from twenty-one states participated in the survey, which asked about the most common complaints they received in 2014, the fastest-growing complaints, the worst complaints, new kinds of consumer problems, agencies’ biggest achievements and challenges, and new laws that are needed to better protect consumers.
“Considering the epidemic of data breaches that we’ve been experiencing in the last year, it’s not surprising that more consumers are contacting state or local consumer agencies for help to resolve the problems that identity theft can cause,” said Susan Grant, Director of Consumer Protection and Privacy at CFA. Some agencies cited the use of consumers’ stolen personal information to impersonate them in order to claim their tax refunds as a particularly fast-growing and troublesome problem. “Government benefits fraud resulting from identity theft makes it very difficult for the victims to claim benefits that are rightfully theirs,” noted Amber Capoun, NACPI President and a Legal Assistant in the Office of the State Banking Commission in Kansas. “The solution to the problem isn’t to provide consumers with identity theft insurance, it’s to require better security to prevent their personal information from being stolen and fraudulently used,” said Grant.