Ringing up the Bills

The FTC is putting out some stats and info regarding identity theft for last year.

Quoting:

Identity theft and fraud cost Americans at least $437 million last year, as scam artists made themselves at home on the Internet, according to federal statistics released today.
The Federal Trade Commission said it received more than half a million consumer complaints in 2003, as scam artists financed their spending sprees with other people's credit cards and hucksters sold nonexistent products through online auction sites.

Identity theft -- the practice of running up bills or committing crimes in someone else's name -- topped the list, with 215,000 complaints, up 33% from the previous year.