While criminals have found a new medium of deception in the form of the Internet, the crimes committed sound awfully familiar. Listen to some of the examples from the Top 10 online scams as provided by the Federal Trade Commission:
Cramming: Defendants mailed $3.50 "rebate" checks to consumers that when cashed, made persons cashing the checks "customers" of the Internet Service Provider, which then began billing those persons for monthly charges. Canceling the "accounts" was next to impossible of course. In another case, consumers were billed for Web site pages they didn't even know they had. Scammers call and offer small businesses and not-for-profit organizations "free" Web pages, then start billing phone bills without authorization. In a third case, adult-oriented Web sites were billing consumers' credit cards or phone bills for services the consumers didn't order or authorize.
Non-delivery: In several FTC cases, defendants are accused of taking cashier's checks or money orders for payment for computer software and electronic goods that never arrived.
Promises, promises: A work-at-home medical billing scam promised earnings following an "investment" of $369 for "training, software and clients." A second series of scams involved get-rich-quick scams that promised little risk to consumers to sign up for day-trading programs.
These scams were examples of a list of the top 10 Internet crimes developed as part of a year-long law enforcement effort by five U.S. agencies, consumer protection organizations for nine countries, and 23 states.
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