Identity Theft in US Number 1 Complaint

"Network World" reports that "for the ninth year in a row identity theft - particularly in Arizona and California -- was the number one consumer complaint filed with the Federal Trade Commission in 2008. Of 1,223,370 complaints received in 2008, 313,982 - or 26%- were related to identity theft.

The Federal Trade Commission‘s list in the "Consumer Sentinel Network (CSN) Data Book for January-December 2008, (worth a download) states that credit card fraud was the most common form of reported identity theft at 20%, followed by government documents/benefits fraud at 15%, employment fraud at 15%, phone or utilities fraud at 13%, bank fraud at 11 %and loan fraud at 4%. The CSN received over 1.2 million complaints during calendar year 2008."