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Consumer organizations and law enforcement agencies warn that older adults are
prime targets for a new breed of wired con artists, who see dollar signs in
the vast numbers of relatively affluent, educated, socially outgoing, and
confident people over age 50.

But Third Agers are also among the increasing number of Net surfers using new
communication technology to pinpoint and report online scams, schemes and
swindles. Many have e-mailed details of suspected rip-offs to the National
Consumer League Internet Fraud Watch, which electronically forwards complaints
to state attorney generals and the Federal Trade Commission.

NCL vice president Susan Grant recently told a Senate panel that e-mail
inquiries about possible online fraud have increased 10-fold and that actual
reports of suspected fraud have tripled since the inception of the program in
1996.

"The Internet has become the newest frontier of consumer fraud," Grant said
"Some of the scams we see on the Internet, such as pyramid schemes, are as old
as the League. Others are more recent, springing from advancements in
technology that have created new types of products and services."

Grant, encouraging Net users of all ages to continue reporting suspected
fraud, unveiled the league’s top 10 list of online scams:

1) Unscrupulous Web Auctions -- users purchased items that were never
delivered by the sellers, the value of items was inflated and shills were
suspected of driving up bids;

2) Internet services - there were charges for supposedly free services and
online payments that were never provided or falsely represented; 3) General
merchandise - sales of everything from T-shirts to toys, calendars to
collectibles were never delivered;

4) Computer equipment and software - sales of computer products were never
delivered or misrepresented;

5)Pyramids - schemes in which any profits were made from recruiting others,
not from sales of goods or services to the end-users;

6)Business opportunities and franchises - empty promises of big profits with
little or no work by investing in pre-packaged businesses or franchise
operations;

7) Work-at-home plans - materials and equipment sold with false promise of
payment for piecework performed at home;

8) Credit card issuing - false promises of credit cards to people with bad
credit histories on payment of up-front fees;

9) Prizes and sweepstakes - requests for up-front fees to claim winnings that
were never awarded;

10) Book sales - genealogies, self-help improvement books, and other
publications that were never delivered or misrepresented.