Although consumers are bombarded every day with warnings to protect their identity online and elsewhere, identity theft is still the fastest growing consumer complaint, according to consumer protection departments from across the country.

At the same time, the usual suspects—automobile scams, home repair ripoffs and credit card disputes—top the list in the number of reported complaints filed, according to 37 agencies in 21 states that participated in the 2014 Consumer Complaints Survey compiled by the Consumer Federation of America (CFA) and the North American Consumer Protection Investigators (NACPI).

“Considering the epidemic of data breaches that we’ve been experiencing in the last year, it’s not surprising that more consumers are contacting state or local consumer agencies for help to resolve the problems that identity theft can cause,” says Susan Grant, CFA director of consumer protection and privacy.

Some agencies cited the use of consumers’ stolen personal information to impersonate them in order to claim their tax refunds as a particularly fast-growing and troublesome problem.

“Government benefits fraud resulting from identity theft makes it very difficult for the victims to claim benefits that are rightfully theirs,” notes Amber Capoun, NACPI president and a legal assistant in the Office of the State Banking Commission in Kansas.

“The solution to the problem isn’t to provide consumers with identity theft insurance, it’s to require better security to prevent their personal information from being stolen and fraudulently used,” says Grant.

“The agencies in our survey try to help consumers with a wide variety of problems, from phony claims that an antique desk from China could cure cancer to a disabled man trying to cancel satellite television service that he couldn’t afford,” she adds.

One new consumer problem that several agencies mentioned encountering last year was businesses closing and reopening under the same name, but with new owners who refuse to honor agreements that the original companies had made with consumers.

Survey respondents suggest that new protections are needed for consumers buying from individuals on online sites. Most consumer protection laws deal with sales between a business and a consumer, they point out.

CFA is an association of over 250 non-profit consumer groups established to advance the consumer interest through research, advocacy, and education. NACPI is a networking association for consumer protection investigators.

The full report is available here.