Attorney General Josh Stein Shares Updates on Top Consumer Complaints and CODIS DNA Hits

For Immediate Release:
Monday, December 30, 2024

Contact:
Nazneen Ahmed (919) 716-0060

(RALEIGH) Attorney General Josh Stein today released the Department of Justice’s annual report and shared the top 10 consumer complaints that the department received in 2024. He also provided an update on the CODIS DNA hits the State Crime Lab has seen in the current fiscal year, which began in July 2024.

Attorney General Stein released the following statement:

“Over the past eight years, I’ve had the honor of working with my colleagues at the North Carolina Department of Justice to protect the people of North Carolina. We have safeguarded people’s hard-earned money, defended their rights, and kept them safe in their homes and neighborhoods. This annual report is a glimpse into the many ways we’ve fought – and won – for North Carolinians. I’m so grateful for the hardworking public servants at the Department of Justice and the work they do to serve our state.”

In 2024, DOJ received more than 19,000 consumer complaints and has recovered nearly $84 million for North Carolina consumers. A breakdown of the top 10 complaint categories is below:

Last year, the Consumer Protection Division won more than $81 million in court judgments and settlements, including money from settlements with drug companies that contributed to the opioid epidemic. Since 2017, the division has won more than $3 billion for consumers in North Carolina. In addition, Attorney General Stein’s Medicaid Investigations Division (MID) surpassed $1.1 billion dollars in criminal restitution and civil recoveries since the division was first created in 1979. In 2024, MID recovered more than $19 million in restitution and penalties related to Medicaid fraud cases.

In November 2024, the State Crime Lab uploaded 1,086 samples to the CODIS database, which led to 34 hits within the database from people who were arrested, people convicted of offenses that require DNA collection, and evidence collected through forensic analysis. Since the State Crime Lab began using the CODIS system, they have seen more than 11,806 hits in CODIS. Those hits have aided more than 9,467 law enforcement investigations. These CODIS hits are also helping to drive arrests related to sexual assault cold cases after Attorney General Stein announced that North Carolina ended the rape kit backlog ended earlier this year. The North Carolina Department of Justice continues to share updates about kit testing and CODIS database results at www.ncdoj.gov/testthekits.

###