The good news is that broadcast is not only way down the list, it’s lumped in a category called Television and Electronic Media, so although there’s no way to tell the true broadcast dissatisfaction, it’s even more diluted than it appears at first blush.
The FTC received a total of 48,640 complaints in its television category during the course of 2014.
By contrast, another communications category, Telephone and Mobile Services, was the target of 171,809 complaints, more than 3.5x the number in the TV/EM category.
The leading complaint, with 332,646, is Identity Theft.
Here is the list of the top ten categories.
13%: Identity Theft
11%: Debt Collection
11%: Imposter Scams
7%: Telephone and Mobile Services
5%: Banks and Lenders
4%: Prizes, Sweepstakes and Lotteries
3%: Auto-Related Companies
3%: Shop-at-Home and Catalog Sales
2%: Television and Electronic Media
2%: Internet Services
“While identity theft remains a huge issue, consumers should also keep a close eye out for imposter scams,” said Jessica Rich, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection. “Whether it’s pretending to be the IRS during tax season, or making false promises of a lottery win, scammers are increasingly sophisticated in their efforts to deceive consumers, but the FTC will continue working to shut these scammers down.”
