BUSINESSWEEK ONLINE : APRIL 3, 2000 ISSUE
BUSINESS WEEK E.BIZ -- SPECIAL REPORT The Top 10 Scams on the Net 1. AUCTION FRAUD You've topped the last bidder for that 1950 Gibson guitar. You send the check, but the guitar never arrives. When the goods do come, they're counterfeit or faulty. 2. INTERNET ACCESS Fly-by-night Internet service providers offer too little bandwidth--or no Net connection at all--to far too many consumers. 3. SALES FRAUD OF COMPUTERS This rip-off is so common it has its own category. Scammers feed on the urge by consumers to pay nearly nothing for such high-tech gear as PCs, laptop computers, or scanners. Often you get nothing. 4. ALL OTHER SALES FRAUD Shady e-commerce sites with enticing come-ons that promise huge savings on everything from televisions to old records--but never deliver. 5. WEB SITE DESIGN You just have to get your business on the Net. Be careful: Some folks promise to build a snazzy Web site, but don't. 6. PORN SITES You can get railroaded into one of these sites. And before you know it, your phone bill is in the four-digit range because the site operator hijacked your Web connection to run up the tab. 7. GET-RICH-QUICK Just when authorities had begun to believe they had seen the end of these scams, the Net has revived pyramid schemes and other old frauds. 8. SHAM FRANCHISES You pay serious dough for the exclusive rights to deliver widgets in your area. Guess what, no one wants them. 9. WORK-AT-HOME You answered the ad, and you've done the work. But the check's always in the mail. 10. TRAVEL That free trip you won sounds fantastic--and it turns out to be a fantasy, all right. You end up paying. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ BACK TO TOP					RELATED ITEMS Fraud on the Net TABLE: The Top 10 Scams on the Net CHART: Cyber Fraud on the Rise Online Scambusters Card Sharps TABLE: Anatomy of an Internet Credit-Card Scam TABLE: Bad Credit INTERACT E-Mail to Business Week Online

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