The state attorney general”™s office last year was flooded with web-related complaints from New Yorkers, prompting Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman to give the Internet the No. 1 spot on his top 10 list of consumer fraud complaints in 2013.
His office received 4,753 emails and phone calls last year from Internet users whose causes of complaint ranged from privacy matters to spyware and online consumer frauds, Schneiderman said Thursday at the start of National Consumer Protection Week.
That volume of gripes far exceeded the 2,614 contacts from consumers complaining about automobile-related scams, which ranked second on the attorney general”™s list.
The credit industry generated 2,295 complaints in 2013. New Yorkers reported problems with debt collection, credit card billing, debt settlement, payday loans, credit repair, credit reporting agencies and identity theft.
Rounding out the fraud list were:
Furniture and major household appliances, 1,168 complaints.
Home repair and construction, 995 complaints about home improvement services not delivered or done poorly.
Retail sales, 913 complaints.
Mail order, purchases online or from catalogs, 816 complaints.
Schneiderman in a press release noted the continued high number of mortgage-related calls and complaints received by his office. They “demonstrate the extent to which consumers who are struggling to stay on top of their mortgages are being targeted by fraudulent and unscrupulous loan modification consultants,” he said.
