|
NaijaCreditCards.com
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Credit
Card Tips: How not to lose Money at an Online Auction
Michael Mangin,
an occasional Internet auction-goer from South Carolina,
recently lost out big on an auction - not to a higher bidder,
but to what some may term a dirty rotten scoundrel. Mangin alleges he
was cheated out of $986 by a scam artist who lured him off an
auction site where he was bidding for a laptop computer. The
scam artist offered a seemingly better deal and then directed
Mangin to what he now believes was a bogus online escrow
service: It took his money, but he never received the
merchandise. While initially
doubtful about dealing with an "outside" person,
Mangin says, he went ahead when the person suggested an online
escrow service. "I thought it would be legitimate,"
he says. "Now I know to be wary. I got duped." Based on the
Federal Trade Commission's (FTC's) consumer fraud complaint
data, he's not alone. Among the thousands of fraud complaints
the FTC receives yearly, those dealing with online auction
fraud consistently rank at or near the top. While many
complaints deal with late shipments, no shipments, or
shipments that aren't of the quality advertised, an increasing
number involve bogus online payment and escrow services.
The complaints
suggest that con artists are monitoring auction sites for
victims - buyers and sellers - to lure away and trick into
turning over their money or merchandise, says Delores Gardner
Thompson, an attorney in the FTC's Division of Marketing
Practices. "It's another example of how fraudulent
sellers continue to find new ways to defraud consumers in
Internet auctions," she says. But the FTC is
taking action. This month, it sued the operators of a
so-called online escrow service for defrauding sellers who
offered merchandise for auction on the Internet. More cases
could be in the offing.
Savvy online
auction-goers can take steps to avoid falling victim to
fraudulent online payment and escrow services - from checking
the service's Web site to reading the service's terms of
agreement. "Overall,
people have positive experiences on Internet auctions,"
says Ina Steiner, editor of AuctionBytes.com, an online
resource on Internet auctions. "But people need to be
careful. The few bad apples can make it hard for the rest of
us." How
To Shop and Use Credit Cards Safely If
you pay by credit or charge card online, your transaction will be
protected by the Fair Credit Billing Act. Under this law, consumers
have the right to dispute charges under certain circumstances and
temporarily withhold payment while the creditor is investigating
them. In the event of unauthorized use of your
credit or charge card, you are
generally held liable only for the first $50 in charges. Some
companies offer an online shopping guarantee that ensures you will
not be held responsible for any unauthorized charges made
online, and some cards may provide additional warranty, return
and/or purchase protection benefits. The FTC works for the
consumer to prevent fraudulent, deceptive and unfair business
practices in the marketplace and to provide information to help
consumers spot, stop and avoid them. To file a complaint
or to get free
information on consumer issues, visit www.ftc.gov
or call toll-free, 1-877-FTC-HELP (1-877-382-4357); TTY:
1-866-653-4261. The FTC enters Internet, telemarketing, identity
theft and other fraud-related complaints into Consumer
Sentinel, a secure, online database available to
hundreds of civil and criminal law enforcement agencies in the U.S.
and abroad.
Articles: How to shop safely on internet auction
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
