Ultimately, someone is going to be left holding the bag. Officials warn that the Internet makes it easy for such fraudulent operations to hide, shut down or move when someone begins to catch on. Well-constructed Web sites might also give the appearance of legitimacy and be more convincing than newspaper advertisements making the same false claims. E-mail offers the possibility for easy, mass targeting, he said. It's the same old scheme.
Officials say that as with anything that sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
Copyright 1999 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. The FTC is getting tough on the equivalent of traditional pyramid schemes on the Internet. ABC News Internet Ventures.