Here's a little light reading material until we return to our regularly scheduled bantering......
(COMTEX) B: IDG'S PC WORLD UNCOVERS THE LATEST IN ONLINE SCAMS -- AND
B: IDG'S PC WORLD UNCOVERS THE LATEST IN ONLINE SCAMS -- AND HOW TO SPOT THEM
Consumer Alert Reveals Online Auction Fraud, Pump-And-Dump Stock
Scams, Pyramid Schemes, Credit Card Swindles, the Low-Down on Dotless
IP Addresses,
And More
SAN FRANCISCO, June 2 /PRNewswire/ -- The SEC currently fields
more than 100 complaints a day about illegal Web activity. In 1998
alone, the National Consumers League received 7,752 Internet fraud
complaints. Online fraud is on the rise and in the news -- the April
PairGain Technologies stock hoax a prime example. Clearly, con artists
are milking the Web for all it's worth. To help surfers identify a
scam and avoid getting bilked, PC World's July consumer report, "The
Online Con," (online now at www.pcworld.com/jul99/online_scams and on
newsstands June 15) outlines the top four Internet swindles -- and what
consumers can do to protect themselves.
Written by privacy expert Jeffrey Rothfeder, the report explains the
scams, the telltale signs, and the dangers posed by Internet shysters.
"Thousands of newcomers take the plunge into the Web each week, but the
same technology that they find so attractive also makes it simpler for
scammers to rook them," writes Rothfeder. "The Internet permits anyone
selling good or bad investments, business ideas, or products to reach
hundreds of thousands of people at once with virtual anonymity."
Here's a look at the most common rip-offs:
Online Auction Fraud
The scam: Illicit online auctions, especially person-to-person
Telltale signs: Unbelievably low prices for desirable items, seller's
evasiveness about providing a phone number, lack of email response,
promises to get you an item that's not in stock
The danger: You post the winning bid, send in the money, and get nothing
-- or you get an item that's nothing like the one advertised
Rothfeder's advice: Pay attention to an auction site's evaluation system;
pay by credit card; or use an escrow agent like www.escrow.com.
Pump and Dump Scams
The scam: Stock manipulation and touting
Telltale signs: Stocks hyped out of the blue without background or
supporting information
The danger: Loss of entire investment amount, with little or no chance of
recouping it
Multilevel Marketing Schemes
The scam: Pyramid scheme
Telltale signs: Profit is all from recruitment effort, no real product or
service is sold
The danger: Only about 2 percent of investors ever see any money at all;
the rest lose everything they put in
Credit Card Swindles
The scam: Cramming -- charges for items never ordered
Telltale signs: Mysterious charges on credit card statement and telephone
bills for Internet products or services never ordered, such as membership
in porn sites
The danger: Initial charges may be insignificant and go unnoticed;
victims may have a hard time getting previous months' charges removed
At press time, PC World's editors uncovered the newest spam scam:
Dotless IP addresses, which hide the true location of a spammer's Web
site, thwart Web filters, and might even fool browsers into letting
down their guard -- leaving computers open to attack. Most spammers get
paid every time someone clicks on the link in their message. So, to
these digital grifters, time literally is money: the longer it takes to
hunt down the offending site, the richer they get. The advice? If you
see a dotless IP address (with either a series of numbers and/or
percent signs), don't click on it.
The article also provides online resources for information about the
latest scams, a list of the Top 10 Internet scams, tips to help
consumers spot a swindle and protect themselves, as well as
instructions for reporting a complaint to Internet Fraud Watch, the
FTC, and the SEC. For the complete story and links to watchdog Web
sites, check out PC World's July consumer alert, "The Online Con," at
www.pcworld.com/jul99/online_scams.
PC World, winner of the 1999 Grand Neal Award, is the world's largest
monthly computer publication with a circulation rate base of 1.2
million. PC World and PC World Online (http://www.pcworld.com) are
published by PC World Communications, Inc., a subsidiary of IDG, the
world's leading IT media, research and exposition company. IDG
publishes more than 290 computer magazines and newspapers and 500 book
titles and offers online users the largest network of
technology-specific sites around the world through IDG.net
(http://www.idg.net), which comprises more than 240 targeted Web sites
in 55 countries. IDG is also a leading producer of 168
computer-related expositions worldwide, and provides IT market analysis
through 49 offices in 41 countries worldwide. Company information is
available at idgcorporate.com.
SOURCE PC World
-0- 06/02/99 /CONTACT: Amy Dalton of PC
World, 415-978-3168, amy_dalton@pcworld.com/
/Company News On-Call: prnewswire.com or
fax, 800-758-5804, ext. 109217/
/Web site: idg.net /Web site:
pcworld.com
/Web site: idgcorporate.com /Web site:
pcworld.com
CO: PC World; IDG; PC World Communications, Inc. ST: California IN:
PUB ADV MLM SU: PDT
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