Mar 20, 2007
Internet auction
fraud remains the most frequently reported online
crime, but complaints over online purchases that are
never delivered are on the rise, according to data
released Friday by the U.S. Federal Bureau of
Investigation's Internet Crime Complaint Center
(IC3).
Auction fraud
complaints made up about 45 percent of the 207,492
complaints received by the IC3 last year, but that
number is down significantly from 2005, when auction
fraud was cited 63 percent of the time.
Overall, the number
of complaints received by IC3 was down 10 percent
from the previous year, when the IC3 logged 231,493
complaints. But the total dollar losses reported
were up in 2006, totalling US$198 million for the
year. In 2005 that number was $183 million.
Complaints for
non-delivery of merchandise represented 19 percent
of complaints. They made up 16 percent in 2005.
The median dollar
loss reported per complaint was $724, according to
the FBI.
Founded in 2000,
the IC3 is a clearing house for all kinds of
cyber-crime complaints designed to track the
prevalence of Internet fraud in the U.S. It is run
in partnership with the National White Collar Crime
Center.
