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Con Artists
Prey on Consumer Vulnerability, Lurk Online, Make Deceptive
Pitch via Phone, Email |
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Fake Check
Scams Dominate NCL's Fraud Center's 2007 Top Scams Lists |
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Release Date: February 22, 2008
Contact: 202-835-3323,
media@nclnet.org |
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WASHINGTON, D.C.—Today the National
Consumers League (NCL) released its annual ranking of the top
telemarketing and Internet scams plaguing consumers in 2007,
with Fake Check Scams simultaneously topping both fraud lists
for the first time. Fake Check Scams, in which victims receive a
realistic-looking phony check and don’t discover it’s no good
until after depositing it and wiring money back to the
crook, have been on the rise since NCL created a category for
the scam in its fraud database in 2003; in 2007, Fake Check
Scams were the top-ranking Telemarketing scam and the 3rd-highest
reported Internet scam.
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2007 Top Internet Frauds
1.
Fake Check Scams
2.
General Merchandise
3.
Auctions
4.
Nigerian Money Offers
5.
Lotteries
6.
Advance Fee Loans/Credit Arrangers
7.
Prizes/Sweepstakes/free gifts
8.
Phishing/Spoofing
9.
Sweetheart Swindles
10.
Internet Access Services
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“Consumers are losing money to Fake
Checks and other scams by the billions,” said Sally Greenberg,
NCL Executive Director of NCL, the nonprofit consumer group that
has operated the national Fraud Center since 1992. “Con artists
are creative and relentless. Their methods often morph into
clever new scams, but the results are the same: trusting
consumers lose their hard-earned money at an alarming rate.” |
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Average victim loss in 2007 remained steady for Internet fraud
and jumped in telemarketing scams. The average loss per person
for Internet scams last year was $1507.62, consistent with
2006’s average of $1,512. Telemarketing losses rose
significantly, at an average loss of $3091.22 per victim, a
greater than 50 percent increase from $2,036 in 2006. |
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2007 Top Telemarketing Frauds
1.
Fake Check Scams
2.
Prizes/Sweepstakes/free gifts
3.
Advance Fee Loans/Credit Arrangers
4.
Lotteries/Lottery Ticket Buying Clubs
5.
Phishing/Spoofing
6.
Magazines
7.
Credit Card Issuing
8.
Scholarships/Educational Grants
9.
Buyers Clubs
10.
Nigerian Money Offers |
Other noteworthy trends in 2007 included an
unprecedented rise in the number of complaints to the Fraud
Center regarding “Friendship” or “Sweetheart Swindles.” In
these scams, criminals befriend consumers in online chat
rooms or dating and friendship Web sites, nurture a
relationship, and then request money for a supposed favor, a
tragic accident, or expensive travel to come visit the
victim.When the victim hands over the money, she or he
rarely hears from their “sweetheart” again. So numerous were
the sweetheart complaints that NCL’s Fraud Center created a
category in July 2007, and in the second half of the year,
the complaints rose in the Internet database to the top 10.
Sweetheart Swindles appear in telemarketing scams as well,
but less frequently.
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“Complaints to our Fraud Center tell a variety of
stories about consumers being victimized by telemarketing and
Internet scams, but there’s a common thread throughout,” said
Greenberg. “We don’t blame the victim. We know these crooks are
very convincing and very good at what they do. We warn consumers
that fraud can happen to anyone. We hear from lawyers, doctors,
people with advanced degrees. Men, women, young, and old. We’ve
logged complaints from victims as young as 18 and as mature as
94. No one is immune from scams.”
The nonprofit NCL’s Fraud Center, unique among consumer
organizations, was created in 1992 to combat the economic menace
of telemarketing fraud, and in 1996, expanded its fraud-fighting
efforts to include scams in cyberspace. The Fraud Center’s
www.fraud.org
Web site is a consumer resource of most common telemarketing and
Internet scams. Consumers can report suspected fraud using the
online complaint form. The Fraud Center
transmits reports to the appropriate agencies among the more
than 200 law enforcement authorities in the U.S. and Canada that
participate in the Fraud Center’s “early warning” system,
alerting agencies to emerging scams and victims, and providing
the necessary ammunition to investigate fraudulent operations
and shut them down.
To fight Fake Check scams, NCL partnered with the U.S.
Postal Inspection Service in 2007 to launch a major national,
multi-media education effort targeting consumers. Since the
fall, NCL’s new Web site,
www.fakechecks.org, has provided millions of consumers with
the information they need to spot, avoid, and report fake check
scams. In early 2008, NCL highlighted Sweetheart Swindles in its
consumer education. In the coming weeks, NCL will unveil a new,
interactive consumer education feature at its
www.fraud.org Web site.
To learn more about the top Internet and telemarketing
frauds of 2007, including information about criminal locations,
payment methods, and more, visit
www.fraud.org. |
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