LINDA F. GOLODNER, National Consumers League president
September 10, 1997

WASHINGTON, DC,  -- Good Morning. My name is Linda F. Golodner, and I'm president of the National Consumers League. I want to thank all of you for joining us as we unveil new pages for Internet Fraud Watch. A complete press packet is available for you on the National Consumers League web site: www.nclnet.org.

Also on this call is Susan Grant, director of Internet Fraud Watch, and Hugh Stevenson, Assistant Director, Division of Marketing Practices of the Federal Trade Commission.

Susan will discuss the top scams and the new site, and Hugh will talk about how enforcement agencies use our information. We will then take your questions.

As business booms on the Internet, scams are prevalent. Now, con artists can get into your wallet with a click of a mouse.

In the last seven months, the League has seen reports of scams on the Internet triple. To address the growing problem of Internet fraud and to arm consumers with the information they need when using the Internet, NCL today unveiled new pages on our fraud web site.

The address for the Internet Fraud Watch section is www.fraud.org/ifw.htm. It gives specific tips on how to avoid fraud in cyberspace. The League's National Fraud Information Center site (www.fraud.org) continues to provide consumers with information on avoiding telemarketing fraud. If consumers want to talk to our consumer counselors on the phone, they can call our hotline, (800) 876-7060.

Internet Fraud Watch is a project of the National Consumers League, America's pioneer consumer advocacy organization. IFW is designed to help consumers distinguish between legitimate and fraudulent promotions in cyberspace and to route reports of suspected fraud to law enforcement agencies.

In the past year, there have been 3.5 million hits to the current www.fraud.org web site.

More than 90,000 people visit the NFIC web site each week. Between 1,500 and 2,000 consumers request information and advice each week via e-mail about Internet fraud. Some consumers submit complaints, and that number varies each week. The e-mails are not all about Internet fraud, though most are; some relate to telemarketing and other frauds. Most e-mails are from people simply asking for advice -- not victims. We give consumers the information they need to keep from being a victim.

IFW uses the reports we get from consumers to alert agencies to emerging on-line and Internet scams. This helps them identify cybercrooks and their victims. These reports of suspected fraud are transmitted daily to more than 150 lay enforcement agencies in the United States and Canada, including the Federal Trade commission, state Attorneys General, and local police departments.

The National Consumers League launched Internet Fraud Watch in March 1996 with initial funding from MasterCard International. Bell Atlantic, MCI Telecommunications, and NationsBank have also provided support for IFW.

Susan Grant will now discuss the top 10 Internet scams, as well as state by state rankings.