A Singaporean buyer was almost duped into making a payment to "Federal Express", or rather Fedxpress, a Web site that looks strikingly similar to the real McCoy -- except that it isn't.
According to forum postings at Hardwarezone.com today, the buyer -- who had successfully bidded for a laptop -- was asked to make his payment to a "FedEx" Web site as soon as he verified that the package had been sent.
"I can send you the package and email you the tracking number of the package. After you go online...and verify that the package has really been sent, you will send me the payment immediately. This way we are both protected," the seller said in the email.
Upon further investigation, however, it was discovered that the site had only been registered four days ago, while FedEx's offical homepage was created on February 26, 1991.
When alerted by Singapore.CNET.com, a FedEx South Pacific spokesperson was surprised at the find.
"We've never heard of the site until today," he said. "The site is very similar and very misleading...and it's clearly not connected with FedEx."
According to him, the matter will be referred to FedEx's internal legal department for investigation.
Charlatans on the Net are nothing new, although statistics from the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) suggest that online auction fraud may be levelling out.
After seeing the number of complaints of auction-related fraud skyrocket from 106 in 1997 to 13,901 in 1999, the number of complaints was down to 10,872 in 2000.
Increased protections offered by online auction sites, savvier consumers and increased vigilance by law enforcement officials helped to keep the numbers down, FTC spokeswoman Dolores Gardner told CNET News.com.
"There's all kinds of laws on the books at varying levels that make it so that all kinds of law enforcement can get involved and bring cases," Gardner said. "I think that sends a message out to sellers and consumers alike that there can be law enforcement in cyberspace."
The decreased number of auction fraud complaints comes as the overall number of Internet fraud complaints rose from about 22,009 in 1999 to 25,469 last year.
Last year, after seeing the increase in the number of fraud complaints concerning online auctions, the FTC announced a coordinated effort with the Department of Justice, the US Postal Inspection Service and state and local law enforcement agencies to combat auction fraud.
The effort involved bringing charges against alleged auction scammers and educating consumers and law enforcement agencies about auction fraud.
Staff writer Troy Wolverton contributed to this report.
