🚀 go-pugleaf

Reposted from comp.internet.net-happenings:

> Date: Thu, 31 Jul 1997 16:55:25
> From: John Walker <jwalker@tor.hookup.net>
> 
> Internet Buyer, Beware!
> 
>                     (07/30/97; 9:30 a.m. EDT)
>                     By David Braun, TechWire
> 
> http://192.215.107.71/wire/news/jul/0730fraud.html
> 
> WASHINGTON -- As the Internet moves toward becoming a mass medium,
> the con artists are taking advantage. Cybercrooks know their marks,
> and they are carefully targeting their scams.
> 
> This warning was made by Linda Golodner, president of the National
> Consumers League, at the annual summit of the Interactive Services
> Association, held here Tuesday.
> 
> The NCL collects complaints from the public and passes them on to the
> Federal Trade Commission and 160 other law enforcement authorities in
> the United States for investigation.
> 
> "A sucker is born every minute, and there are certainly a lot of
> suckers online," Golodner said.
> 
>>From the 300 to 400 complaints received by the NCL every day, the
> group has found 10 common scams on the Net.
> 
> Topping the list are pyramids and bogus multilevel marketing schemes,
> followed by sales of computer equipment and software that are either
> never delivered or are defective.
> 
> "Like legitimate businesses, cybercrooks know their target markets,"
> Golodner said.
> 
> The other scams are:
> 
> Sales of Internet services and products that are never performed or
> are misrepresented;
> 
> Business opportunities and franchises that don't generate the
> promised profits;
> 
> Work-at-home schemes, where consumers buy a starter kit, but no work
> or payment is delivered;
> 
> Club memberships and buyer clubs with no goods or services;
> 
> Magazine subscriptions wherein no magazines are received;
> 
> Investments with profits misrepresented;
> 
> Scholarship services that offer no real assistance; and
> 
> Sweepstakes and prize offers that offer empty promises of cash or
> prizes requiring up-front fees or "taxes."
> 
> The National Consumers League , the oldest nonprofit consumer
> organization in the United States, has set up a special National
> Fraud Information Center on the Internet for online users to get
> advice and to report rip-offs. Consumers can also call the NCL at
> 1-800-876-7060.
> 
> Links:
> 
> National Consumers League: http://www.natlconsumersleague.org/
> 
> National Fraud Information Center: http://www.fraud.org/
> 
> ------------------
> 
> Also in this issue:
> 
> - Photonics' to Trigger Bandwith Explosion
> - IBM Announces Agents for Web Intelligence
> - B-to-B Net Transactions Projected at $327 Billion in 2002
> - Two Firms Hope to Tap into Online Newsletter Boom
> - Jordanian Company to Introduce Satellite Internet Solution
> - Internet Buyer, Beware!
> 
> -------------------------------
> Excerpt from CSS Internet News (tm)  ,-~~-.____
> For subscription details email      / |  '     \
> jwalker@tor.hookup.net with        (   )        0
> SUBINFO CSSINEWS in the             \_/-, ,----'
> subject line.                          ====           //
>                                        /  \-'~;    /~~~(O)
> "On the Internet no one               /  __/~|   /       |
> knows you're a dog"                 =(  _____| (_________|
> 
> -------------------------------
> 


--
####    |\^/|     Colin R. Leech     ag414 or crleech@freenet.carleton.ca
#### _|\|   |/|_  Civil engineer by training, transport planner by choice.
#### >         <  Opinions are my own. You may consider them shareware.
####  >_./|\._<   "If you can't return a favour, pass it on." - A.L. Brown