Internet Fraud and Scams

According to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), Internet fraud is the number two consumer complaint, after identity theft.  The FTC and other law enforcement and consumer organizations received 102,517 consumer complaints about Internet scams in 2002, nearly twice as many as in 2001.

The FTC says half the complaints concern online auctions.  Consumers say they don’t receive merchandise they paid for; that products and services are misrepresented or overpriced; and that con artists sell goods using the names of other sellers without their knowledge.

While auction fraud tops the list, other forms of online chicanery abound, such as:

• “business opportunities,” in which customers pay up front for start-up materials on home businesses that don’t work or don’t arrive;
• investment promotions promising outlandish returns that never materialize; and
• pitches for quickie divorces, international driver’s licenses and immigration documents that are invalid.

New schemes pop up almost daily.  One involves services that enable auction buyers to send money to an escrow company that pays the seller only after the buyer accepts the goods.  But buyers are complaining, the FTC says, that some scheming sellers set up phony escrow companies and then abscond with their money.

Help is on the way:  The FTC, FBI and other agencies have announced a joint initiative to crack down on runaway Internet fraud.

For more information or to file a complaint go to the federal government’s Internet Fraud Complaint Center website or go the Federal Trade Commission’s website and click on “Online  Shopping Tips.”

Have you heard of Action?

Action solves problems and gets answers for you. If you have a question, or your own attempts to resolve a consumer complaint have failed, write Times Action, P.O. Box 1121, St. Petersburg, FL 33731, or call the Action number, (727) 893-8171, or, outside of Pinellas County, call toll-free 1-800-333-7505, ext. 8171, to leave a recorded request.

They accept requests only by mail or voice mail; they cannot return calls. They will not be responsible for personal documents, so please send only photocopies.  If your complaint concerns merchandise ordered by mail, they need copies of both sides of your canceled check.

They may require additional information or prefer to reply by mail; therefore, you must provide a full mailing address, including ZIP code.  Names of letter writers will not be omitted except in unusual circumstances.  Letters may be edited for length and clarity.