Auction fraud accounts for nearly half of Internet-related complaints made to the FBI, a report has said. 45% of complaints made to the Internet Crime Complaint Center were related to online auctions: the good news is that this is down from 63% in 2005. The figures may also present an overly black picture as they only represent those cases which are reported to the FBI: issues regarding banking and credit card problems are likely to be resolved without recourse to law enforcement.
The Federal Trade Commission has also reported a drop in auction complaints, both in percentage and real terms. Around 32,800 complaints were received last year, 5% of the total, compared to 80,400, or 12%, in 2005.
