Federal Trade Commission
Contents
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) provides a variety of statistical programs and data resources, primarily focused on consumer protection and competition matters. The FTC's statistical information is often based on consumer reports and is used for law enforcement, advocacy, and education.
Consumer Protection Data
The FTC collects and publishes data on consumer complaints through its Consumer Sentinel Network. This is a secure online database that law enforcement agencies use to spot trends, identify questionable business practices, and enforce the law. The FTC releases several reports and data books based on this information:
| • | Consumer Sentinel Network Data Book: An annual report that aggregates data on fraud, identity theft, and other consumer problems. For example, the 2024 data book reported that consumers lost over $12 billion to fraud, with imposter scams being a significant contributor to those losses. |
| • | Data Spotlights: The FTC publishes specific reports that highlight trends in consumer complaints, such as the increase in impersonation scams targeting older adults. These reports provide detailed statistics on fraud types, reported losses, and payment methods. |
| • | Do Not Call Registry Data: The FTC provides data books and APIs related to complaints about unwanted phone calls. This data includes information on the phone number that made the call, the date of the call, and whether it was a robocall. |
Competition and Law Enforcement Data
The FTC also makes a variety of data sets available to the public related to its competition mission and law enforcement actions. These data sets are often available in machine-readable formats like CSV and Excel.
| • | Merger Enforcement Actions: The FTC publishes data on both nonmerger and public merger enforcement actions. This includes information on cases brought by the FTC from as early as 1996. |
| • | Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR) Act Filings: Data is available on a monthly or fiscal-year basis, showing information on merger filings and second requests. |
| • | FTC Refunds: The FTC provides visualizations and data on money that has been refunded to consumers as a result of law enforcement cases. This data includes the total dollar amounts, where refunds were sent, and the number of people who received them. |
The FTC uses this data not only to inform its policy and enforcement efforts but also to evaluate its own performance as an agency.