Consumer Protection
Like most Americans, Virginians are facing growing threats from fraudulent, deceptive, and illegal practices.
Why is This Important?
Consumer fraud and identity theft are growing problems across America. However, it is difficult to compare consumer protection statistics across states, as there is great variation in relevant state laws, definitions, standards of evidence, and record keeping. The Consumer Sentinel, a database set up by the Federal Trade Commission, provides a limited view of consumer protection issues and trends, with a strong focus on fraud perpetrated via the Internet and telemarketing. In 2011 alone, the Consumer Sentinel received over 1.8 million consumer fraud, identity theft, and related complaints, with victims reporting losses of more than $1.5 billion.
The Federation of State Medical Boards (FSMB) tracks disciplinary actions taken against doctors -- revocations, surrenders, and probations / restrictions for medical licenses. During 2010, state medical boards took a total of 5,652 disciplinary actions against doctors nationwide, a decrease of 69 actions from 2009.
How is Virginia Doing?
Consumer Fraud
According
to complaints made to
the Consumer Sentinel
in 2011, Virginia had
the 5th highest rate
of consumer fraud and
other related problems:
527.0 per 100,000 population,
well above the national
average of 422.2. Virginians
reported a total of 41,265
fraud and other cases
in 2011, which ranked the Commonwealth 46th out of 50 states.
The top fraud categories, regardless of location, were:
- Third party and creditor debt collection
- Shop-at-home / catalog sales
- Prizes, sweepstakes, and lotteries
- Banks and lenders
- Auto-related complaints
- Internet services
Among peer states, North Carolina (399.2) and Tennessee (425.3) had lower consumer fraud rates than Virginia, while Maryland (547.0) was higher. Nationally, the lowest rate of fraud and other complaints occurred in North Dakota, with 257.5 complaints per 100,000 population.
Identity Theft
Virginia
had the nation’s
21st highest identity
theft rate in 2011 at
67.7 per 100,000 population, ranking the state 30th nationally.
The national average
for identity theft was
83.9 in 2011.
Tennessee's rate was
67.4 per 100,000 population,
Maryland's was 86.3, and
North Carolina's was
65.9. North Dakota had
the lowest rate at 23.2.
In 2011, 5,416 Virginians reported some form of identity theft. The top types of identity theft include:
- Government documents or benefits fraud
- Phone or utilities fraud
- Credit card fraud
- Bank fraud
- Employment-related fraud
- Loan fraud
Physician Disciplinary
Actions
Data on the number of serious disciplinary actions taken by state medical boards against physicians shows that Virginia's rate in 2010 -- 3.45 per 1,000 doctors -- was 21st highest in the nation. The national rate was 2.97 per 1,000 physicians. Among peer states, North Carolina was higher (3.80), and Tennessee (2.78) and Maryland (2.55) were lower. Minnesota had the lowest rate of disciplinary actions at 1.29.
What Influences Consumer Protection?
Education, timely information, legislation, and effective administrative regulations and law enforcement all work together to reduce consumer fraud and identity theft and protect consumers of health care and other services.
What is the State's Role?
The state fights consumer violations in several ways by:
- educating residents to recognize scams and establish personal security protections
- enacting appropriate legislation
- enforcing regulations, and
- investigating and prosecuting offenders.
Within Virginia, responsibilities for protecting consumers are largely organized as follows:
- The Office of Consumer Affairs at the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services works to protect consumers against fraudulent, deceptive, and illegal practices in the marketplace.
- The Attorney General's Office enforces state and federal consumer laws and prosecutes offenders.
- The Department of Health Professions issues licenses and regulates health care practitioners.
- The Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation regulates more than 30 occupations and professions.
- The Department of Labor and Industry and the Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy enforce worker safety laws and regulations.
State rankings are ordered so that #1 is understood to be the best.
Data Definitions and Sources
Federal Trade Commission, Consumer Sentinel, "Consumer
Sentinel Network Data Book” (2008-2011)
and “Fraud
and Identity Theft Complaint Data" (2004,
2005, 2006, 2007).
www.ftc.gov/sentinel/reports.shtml (updated
annually in February)
Note: In 2008, the Federal Trade Commission expanded the types of consumer complaints that it tracks to include complaints filed about debt collection, credit issues, and financial matters. In addition, state level reporting included a new category “fraud and other complaints” which consists of complaints about consumer fraud, complaints about financial products, and other complaints alleging misleading and deceptive practices, fake merchandise, and defective products. For these reasons, consumer fraud complaints reported in previous years are not directly comparable to those reported as “consumer fraud and other” here.
Federation of State Medical Boards. Summary of Board Actions. www.fsmb.org/fpdc_basummaryarchive.html
Public Citizen. Ranking of State Medical Boards’ Serious
Disciplinary Actions: (2008-2010, 2007-2009, 2006-2008,
2005-2007, 2004-2006, 2003-2005, 2002-2004)
www.citizen.org/statemedicalboardsdisciplinaryactions
Public Citizen computes the rate of serious disciplinary actions per 1,000 doctors using three year moving averages of state disciplinary rates to smooth out large fluctuations that can be caused by relatively small increases in the number of actions for small states. Information on the number of disciplinary actions is obtained from the Federation of State Medical Boards (FSMB), and data on total medical doctors is obtained from the American Medical Association.
See the Data Sources and Updates Calendar for a detailed list of the data resources used for indicator measures on Virginia Performs.
