Online Consumers at Risk and the Role of State Attorneys General (PDF; 3.9 MB)
Source: Center for American Progress and Center for Democracy and Technology
From press release:

State attorneys general received thousands of consumer complaints of online fraud and abuse in 2006 and 2007 and yet, with the exception of several notable standouts, brought few significant cases in response, according to a report released today from the Center for American Progress and the Center for Democracy and Technology, Online Consumers at Risk and the Role of State Attorneys General.

Most states supplied the authors with a top 10 list ranking consumer complaint categories (Internet-related and other). In 2007, 24 out of 30 states that provided rankings reported an Internet-related category within their top 10. Eight states ranked Internet-related complaints among their top three most common consumer complaints, including four states that ranked Internet-related complaints at the top of the list.

For 2007 and 2006, 20 states provided the number of consumer complaints associated with each category—the others merely provided rankings without giving the number of complaints. In both years, these states reported roughly 20,000 Internet-related complaints.

The Federal Trade Commission also provides data for all 50 states on consumer complaints related to Internet fraud. These data are compiled from a variety of sources, including 13 state attorneys general. In 2007, the FTC reported 221,226 Internet-related fraud complaints, up almost 16,000 from 2006 and more than 24,000 in 2005.

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