Online-Auction Fraud Is Target of Crackdown

The Wall Street Journal ^ | April 30, 2003 | John R. Wilke and Nick Wingfield

[Timesink]

WASHINGTON -- State and federal officials are cracking down on online-auction fraud, with arrests to be announced in several states Wednesday and lawsuits against alleged con artists preying on eBay and other sites.

The effort by the Federal Trade Commission and more than two dozen state attorneys general is intended to fight what officials say is a rising tide of Internet fraud. Law-enforcement officials say that more than 48,000 online-fraud referrals were made to state and federal agencies last year, triple the number in 2001. Nearly half of them involved online-auction fraud, according to a study by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

[Timesink]

bump for bump lists

[lainde]

I got one of those emails. They look very authentic. But I smelled a rat thank goodness.

[Ditter]

I got one too, but I didn't smell anything. I tried to do as the email instructed but was told that the site was too busy.

[Drawsing]

Identity theft is rampant these days and its lifeblood is personal information. DO NOT give out ANY personal information to ANYONE unless that person is a close friend or relative standing in front of you and you have double checked to see if they are not wearing a mask.

I am mainly thinking about all these supposed "surveys" that telemarketers are trying these days.