WASHINGTON -- With just 54 shopping days until Christmas, law enforcement agencies here and abroad are joining forces to track down and prosecute cyber scammers, federal officials announced today.

According to Federal Trade Commission data, consumers are growing increasingly fearful of making purchases online, citing worries about fraud and privacy. Complaints stemming from Internet-related shopping have grown to 30 percent of all consumer complaints registered with the FTC, up from 10 percent two years ago.

"Almost all of these are old-time scams," Jodie Bernstein, director of Consumer Protection at the FTC, said. "We've seen them all before, but they've seen a boost with the capacity on the Internet to go international." Because cyberspace knows no national borders, the traditional difficulties of combating retail fraud are exacerbated online. To promote a more robust e-commerce arena, the US government and counterparts around the world are collaborating in their tracking, monitoring and prosecuting efforts.

Better cooperation
The FTC and two consumer protection agencies in the United Kingdom -- the U.K. Department of Trade and Industry and the UK Office of Fair Trading -- have agreed to improve their information-sharing and coordination. The agreement, which is not legally binding, indicates heightened concern in both countries for the viability of e-commerce. In a "best efforts" endeavor, they will step up the processes of notifying each other of protection activities and assisting each other in gathering information.

"Clearly countries are all seeing an increase in purchases over the Internet," said Jonathan Rees, director of Consumer Affairs at the UK Department of Trade and Industry. "We're seeing also a lot of suspicion about buying over the Internet, and there is a great need to enhance consumer confidence."

Rees added that the agreement marks just the beginning of ongoing collaboration because the potential for cross-border purchasing online will only grow.

The top scams
The coordination agreement came as the International Marketing Supervision Network, a group of consumer protection organisations from 29 countries, met in Washington.

During the past year, nine IMSN members, including the United States, worked together to target the most egregious online scams. Known as "Operation Top Ten Dot Cons," the initiative found that Internet auction fraud and service provider scams top the list of consumer complaints. Participants in the operation brought 251 cases during the last year alone.

Of all Internet-related grievances tracked by the FTC between January 1 and September 26, 45 percent concerned online auctions, most of which involved consumers paying for goods they did not receive. Complaints about access services accounted for 21 percent; information and adult services accounted for 9 percent; telephone services, 5 percent; and Web site design and promotion, 5 percent. Consumers also complained about work-at-home plans, pyramid schemes, travel promotions and investment schemes.

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