Identity theft and email scams asking for money top the list of fraud complaints reported by Virginians in 2011, according to a report released last week by the Federal Trade Commission.
According to the FTC’s annual Consumer Sentinel Network fraud complaint report, nationwide there were a little more than 1.8 million identity theft, fraud and suspected scam complaints made in 2011; a nearly 25 percent increase from 2010.
The report, which breaks consumer complaints down by state, lists Virginians as having made 47,581 consumer fraud reports in 2011.The most common type of identity theft reported in the state was government documents and benefits fraud (17 percent), followed by phone or utilities fraud (17 percent) and credit card fraud (15 percent).
Other types of suspected scam attempts that rank high on the Virginia list include spurious debt collectors (13 percent), followed by suspected shop at home, bank, lottery, Internet, telephone, credit card and counterfeit check scams.
“Overall, we get about 4,000 of these types of reports annually,” said Det. Clinton Beach, who heads the Fairfax County Police Financial Crime Online Reporting System.
Since its implementation in September, the online reporting system has received more than 1,200 reports from residents.
Beach said county police received 1,020 identity theft reports overall in 2011, as well as 362 credit card theft and fraud reports.
“Credit card theft is when your credit card is actually stolen,” he said. “Credit card fraud is an illegal transaction that is made using the information from that card.”
Beach said a common form of credit card fraud called “skimming” can occur at restaurants or other retail establishments by employees who don’t need to steal a credit card to commit fraud.
“It only takes 10 seconds for a waiter or waitress to take your credit card and write down your number and then go home and pay their bills online with your information,” Beach said.
Another type of fraud popular throughout the county are door-to-door repair scams.
On Jan. 31 in Vienna, a man was approached at his home in the 900 block of Cottage Street and was told his house needed repairs for damage it sustained during August’s earthquake.
Vienna police said the homeowner agreed to have the work completed and paid $4,000 for the alleged repairs. It was later discovered the cracks that supposedlysustained merely had been painted.
Police said attempts to contact the workers have not been successful, but that the case still is being investigated.
“The golden rule of scam protection is that If you didn’t initiate contact with someone wanting money or personal information, it’s a probably a scam,” said Vienna police spokesman Bill Murray.
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