But the real intent is to take money out of your account, not put money in it. Among the top ten frauds, the most young victims are found in the advance fee loan category, the most older victims in bogus credit card offers. Those states are also the top locations for cybercrooks. But since the Internet has no geographic boundaries, neither do the con artists. Because we hear from so many online auction victims, the most common method of solicitation is through Web sites.
Consumers have to be wary no matter where they go on the Internet.
A friendly tip from someone in a newsgroup can actually be a trap set by a fraudster. Since many online auction transactions are completed with the high bidder sending payment offline to the seller, the most frequent methods of payment are money order and check. We advise consumers to pay by credit card because of the strong legal dispute rights they have for unauthorized charges, nondelivery or misrepresentation. However, we are beginning to see payments made with debit cards or by demand drafts from consumers bank accounts, and the legal dispute rights in those cases are not as strong. This is a concern, especially as new forms of electronic payment such as cyberwallets are developed.