Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Internet scammers target young people in their sights

The consumer regulator scouring the internet nowadays for scams who target young people.

ACCC (Australian Competition and Consumer Commission) is running the Australian arm of an internet clean for scams that are happening in more than 40 countries. The deputy chairman of ACCC Peter Kell said about 45 employees is looking for scams who were aiming young people, such as sites offering free tickets to concerts.

He also reported: Scammers are targeting particular keywords which might range from things like a miracle cure to easy money. They were taking those sites down if they turn out to be scams and sending more general warnings about the sorts of information that people might put on their Face book page. Criminals have used that information to impersonate young people and target their friends or family for money.

Mr. Kell says young people are not as mindful of the risks online. They are technically know-how, but they're not always experienced consumers and they may not always be able to pick up the signs that there's a scam or there's inadequate information.

Mr. Peter Kell says it is not always easy to get sites taken down. It can vary noticeably. In some jurisdictions it can be very tricky to arrange for a site to be taken down. In some cases if the scammers know that law enforcement agencies are onto them, they just abandon the site.

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