California gets most Internet fraud complaints

As reported in Legal Newsline:

Californians are the most frequent victims of Internet crime and
complaints according to a new Federal Trade Commission report that
stems from data provided by the attorney general’s office.

California
collected 8,622 individual complaints on Internet-related fraud in
2007, according to a story first reported by the San Jose Mercury News.
The amount of complaints far exceeds all other states, including
runner-up New York that had slightly more than half the number of
complaints as California.

According to data from the California
attorney general’s office, complaints were filed over a diverse number
of reasons including identity theft, spam, disputes with service
providers and e-mail scams designed to discover personal information.

In
2007, the FTC report said nearly a quarter of a million complaints were
lodged nationwide, the Center for Democracy and Technology said.

Most
states have neglected to bring significant cases as a result of these
complaints, the press release states, with most of the cases brought by
attorneys general focused on sexual enticement of minors and child
pornography.

“These numbers are startling, but they may even
understate the problem,” said Reece Rushing, director of regulatory and
information policy at the Center for American Progress. “Consumers are
often unaware, and thus may not report, when they are victimized by
online threats such as spyware or phishing. We must take action against
these threats to protect consumers and preserve confidence in Internet
commerce.”