Markets Wired

The Federal Trade Commission is making more state-level information available to the public about the complaints it receives from consumers related to COVID-19, with reports about online shopping problems topping the list of complaints in most states.

Under its expanded reporting, the FTC is now releasing the numbers of different types of fraud, Do Not Call, and other complaints received from consumers in each state. You can find national and state-level data on the FTC’s new interactive COVID-19 complaint data dashboards.

The COVID-19-related online shopping complaints from consumers include reports about items not arriving or not arriving when promised and items that are different than advertised. The FTC began releasing COVID-19-related complaint data in late March 2020. So far, the FTC has received more than 91,000 total COVID-19-related complaints between January 1 and June 8, 2020. Consumers have reported losing a total of more than $59.2 million to COVID-19-related fraud. California has reported the largest number of COVID-19-related complaints.

The Federal Trade Commission works to promote competition, and protect and educate consumers. You can learn more about consumer topics and file a consumer complaint online or by calling 1-877-FTC-HELP (382-4357). Like the FTC on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, read our blogs, and subscribe to press releases for the latest FTC news and resources.