The Federal Trade Commission, with support from Ohio State Attorney General Jim Petro and 28 states, launched a nationwide crackdown on Internet auction fraud on April 30.
Operation Bidder Beware will combine law enforcement with education to try and stop Internet scams.
“It’s the No. 1 Internet-related complaint that we receive,” said Tara Flynn, assistant director in the Division of Marketing Practice of the FTC.
The FTC Consumer Sentinel database received 51,000 complaints last year.
During the planning stages of Operation Bidder Beware, the FTC halted four auction scams, and 29 local police departments announced 56 criminal cases.
“FTC cases were filed in April and are now in litigation and going forward,” Flynn said. “But first and foremost, we want to get the message out and make sure consumers are aware. We’ll stop fraud when we can.”
Last month, Petro pursued an Internet fraud complaint against four Cincinnati residents conducting business as God’s Toy Store and Crown Jewel Computers. He has requested the court reward $26,430.84 to 37 scammed consumers.
“(Petro) went to court last Friday, and we’re still waiting,” said Michelle Gatchell, spokeswoman for the attorney general’s office.
Internet auction fraud complaints filed with Petro’s office are individually assigned to complaint specialists.
“Their primary function is to mediate a solution,” Gatchell said. “Hardly any cases go to court. They usually can be mediated through the consumer and supplier.”
The specialists provided $2.1 million in relief to victims of Internet con artists last year, she said.
Despite auction hosts’ attempts to keep Web site’s free from fraud, sellers still manage to scam consumers.
“Most auction fraud is a very simple scenario,” said Claudia Borne Farrell, spokeswoman for the FTC. “It exists when consumers bid and think they have won merchandise. Either they don’t receive the merchandise, or they receive something dramatically different.”
In addition to law enforcement, Operation Bidder Beware aims to educate Internet buyers through a consumer education campaign.
The program recommends saving all transaction records, researching the seller and auction site thoroughly and utilizing an escrow service.
“Escrow services act as independent third parties. They take buyers’ money until they receive the merchandise. They inspect the merchandise and send it to the buyer before sending the money to the seller,” Borne Farrell said.
Such a service could have served Nathan Beare well. The sophomore in turf grass science used EBay, an online auction site, to purchase autographed posters last month.
“I sent the money, but I never got them,” Beare said.
After reporting the seller to EBay and an outside mediator similar to those provided by Petro’s office, Beare received his posters valued at $50.
“I won’t use EBay again,” he said. “I’ll just go to the store.”
Internet auction fraud victims should contact the Attorney General’s Consumer Protection Hotline at 1-800-282-0515 or www.ag.state.oh.us or the Federal Trade Commission at www.ftc.gov to file a complaint.
