The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) released a list of its top fraud complaints and offered Long Islanders tips on how to avoid identity theft as part of its National Consumer Protection Week.

Officials say New York ranks eighth nationally for the number of ID theft cases and makes up almost half of the cases investigated by the FTC. Consumer experts say protecting personal information is paramount and that it could take years to clear a credit report if the information falls into the wrong hands.

Other top complaints heard by the FTC include Internet auction scams, bad shop-at-home and catalog sales, bogus foreign money offers and Internet and computer problems.