Fraudsters are moving with the
times, with many now using e-mail to cheat innocent
web surfers of their hard-earned cash, according to a
new study.
Ninety-four percent of
respondents to a National Consumers League survey said
they had received unsolicited emails offering
financial services or touting dubious money-making
schemes.
The NCL, the main US consumer
lobby, warned that many of these offers could be
fraudulent.
"Consumers should be very
suspicious of anyone who promises them easy money,
incredibly cheap prices, or 'free' services that may
have hidden costs," said Susan Grant, director of the
NCL's Internet Fraud Watch programme.
Beware the inbox
The fastest-growing internet
fraud is an online version of the notorious 'Nigerian
money offer'.
Reports of e-mailed Nigerian
money scams - designed to obtain recipients' bank
account details by offering to transfer large sums to
them for safekeeping - rose by 900% between 2000 and
2001, the NCL said.
Scams of this kind, which
often emanate from Nigeria or other African countries,
have been circulating for years through the post or by
fax.
Other frequent internet scams
include bogus auctions, dubious work-at-home schemes,
and phoney credit card offers.
Hall of shame
The top 10 internet frauds
reported to the NCL last year were:
- Bogus online auctions,
where the items purchased are never delivered.
- Deliberate
misrepresentation or non-delivery of general
merchandise purchased online.
- Nigerian money offers.
- Deliberate
misrepresentation or non-delivery of computer
equipment or software purchased online.
- Internet access scams,
where bogus internet service providers fraudulently
charge for services that were never ordered or
received.
- Credit card or telephone
charges for services that were never ordered or
misrepresented as free. These often include charges
for accessing 'adult' material.
- Work-at-home schemes
promising wildly exaggerated sales and profits.
- Advance fee loans, where
consumers are duped into paying upfront charges for
loans which never materialise.
- Phoney offers of
cheap-rate credit card deals, once again on payment
of upfront fees.
- Business opportunities or
franchises sold on the basis of exaggerated profit
estimates.
Law enforcement agencies have
long warned that the rise of the internet has opened
up fresh opportunities for fraudsters.
Last year, the European
Commission said that online shopping sites had
contributed to a 50% rise in credit card fraud in the
European Union during 2000.
