Frank, > this is definitely a scam. My brother's girlfriend almost > got caught. > Google it and you will find lots of references
Thanks. Yes, with a little digging I see some stories, one almost identical down the page at http://www.craigslist.org/about/scams It appears that the FTC is the agency charged with "doing something" http://ftc.gov/multimedia/video/scam-watch/file-a-complaint.shtm But when I go to their "file a report" page at https://www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov/, I see this at the top: "Why: Your complaints can help us detect patterns of wrong-doing, and lead to investigations and prosecutions. The FTC enters all complaints it receives into Consumer Sentinel, a secure online database that is used by thousands of civil and criminal law enforcement authorities worldwide. The FTC does not resolve individual consumer complaints." The last sentence means you get to complain, but you'll not see or be able to track results. A one-way street. The filing experience is useless for the report I wanted to make (I wanted to provide some basic information about an attempted robbery). It starts with asking the wrong questions, and then wants structured information about the company involved. All I have is the link to the craigslist ad, an email address, and likely a fake name that's changed with the wind. Then I get to the "tell us about yourself" screen wants my name, address, phone number, work number, age and email address. Now, I just finished reading that the FTC doesn't follow-up on an "individual complaint", so what, or whose, purpose does this information serve? I've had to deal with machines attacked, this clown trying to rip me off big time, and now the gov't agency that's supposed to protect the Internet is looking to collect personal information for no stated purpose, and I presume no privacy protection. I don't want to start thinking about how filing an FTC complaint could somehow bite later (a "troublemaker" label in some context?), but I don't want to think about any of that, just to hand over some information that might help someone else. When the FTC proves ineffective - which appears to be the case - the agency can claim it's because people aren't cooperating, without a thought given to making their reporting system useful. It should be enough to send a simple report with basic information via email to an email address that's staffed by clerks who sort the reports out. And I'll note somewhere here that the word "scam" belongs with "virus" on the list of words used to mislead people on basic concepts. People are so amenable to "group think"! Bill > > Frank. > _______________________________________________ Post Messages to: [email protected] Subscription Maintenance: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profox OT-free version of this list: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profoxtech Searchable Archive: http://leafe.com/archives/search/profox This message: http://leafe.com/archives/byMID/profox/de149e0a9a28442fba4de6264bfd3...@bills ** All postings, unless explicitly stated otherwise, are the opinions of the author, and do not constitute legal or medical advice. This statement is added to the messages for those lawyers who are too stupid to see the obvious.
