The FTC, or Federal Trade Commission, is a federal organization that consists of 3 branches. One of these branches is of particular importance to consumers - the Bureau of Consumer Protection. In the United States, this department of the FTC governs national consumer protection, enforcing and regulating consumer law throughout the entire country. Basically, the FTC makes certain that US consumers can participate in a fair, safe, and ethical market. Primarily, this includes problems that occur during a sale, rental, or lending. In addition to these issues, the Bureau of Protection also protects consumers from various other issues of importance. Within the past decade, issues concerning identity theft, online scams, and false advertising have been prevalent, aside from the issues occurring in sales and lending. To efficiently enforce this large range of consumer issues, the FTC takes complaints and engages in investigation, a process that can end in legal action. Since the FTC is the head of consumer protection, they tend to only handle large scale issues, not individual complaints. For consumers with individual concerns, complaints can be reported to local consumer agencies located within their state or county.