Internet Fraud Prevention - U.S.General fraud informationU.S. Internet Fraud Complaint Center U.S. Postal Inspection Service Didn't Get What You Ordered? U.S. Federal Trade Commission's Mail or Telephone Order Merchandise Trade Regulation Rule The U.S. Mail Fraud Statute U.S. Internet Fraud Complaint Center The Internet Fraud Complaint Center (IFCC) is a partnership between the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the National White Collar Crime Center (NW3C). IFCC's mission is to address fraud committed over the Internet. For victims of Internet fraud, IFCC provides a convenient and easy-to-use reporting mechanism that alerts authorities of a suspected criminal or civil violation. For law enforcement and regulatory agencies at all levels, IFCC offers a central repository for complaints related to Internet fraud, works to quantify fraud patterns, and provides timely statistical data of current fraud trends. top U.S. Postal Inspection Service The U.S. Postal Inspection Service is the law enforcement branch of the U.S. Postal Service, empowered by federal laws and regulations to investigate and enforce over 200 federal statutes related to crimes against the U.S. Mail, the Postal Service and its employees. Postal Inspectors investigate any crime in which the U.S. Mail is used to further a scheme, whether it originated in the mail, by telephone or on the Internet. The use of the U.S. Mail is what makes it a mail fraud issue. If evidence of a postal-related violation exists, Postal Inspectors may seek prosecutive or administrative action against a violator; however, if money is lost to a fraudulent scheme conducted through the mail, Inspectors do not have the authority to ensure you are refunded your loss and cannot require that products, services or advertisements, on the Internet or elsewhere, be altered. Postal Inspectors base their investigations of mail fraud on the number, pattern and substance of complaints received from the public. The Postal Inspection Service is interested in your concerns and will carefully review the information you provide. top Didn't Get What You Ordered? (from the USPIS site) Legitimate businesses appreciate feedback. Check the offer for the delivery time frame, usually 6 to 8 weeks, and then contact the company. Please wait 2 weeks after contacting them before contacting [the USPIS]. When a delivery time is not specified, a Federal Trade Commission rule mandates fulfillment within 30 days, unless you applied for first-time credit with the company. For more information on compliance rules for businesses, see the next section. top MAIL OR TELEPHONE ORDER MERCHANDISE RULE To help you plan and operate your business, the Federal Trade Commission ("FTC") staff in cooperation with the Direct Marketing Association (DMA) has prepared this booklet about the FTC's Mail or Telephone Order Merchandise Trade Regulation Rule (the "Rule"). The Rule's requirements are explained in plain English. This discussion is followed by a question and answer section. The Rule itself is reprinted at the end of this booklet. What Does the Rule Cover? It applies to most goods a customer orders from the seller by mail, telephone, fax, or on the Internet. It does not matter how the merchandise is advertised, how the customer pays, or who initiates the contact. What is the Mail or Telephone Order Rule? The Rule requires that when you advertise merchandise, you must have a reasonable basis for stating or implying that you can ship within a certain time. If you make no shipment statement, you must have a reasonable basis for believing that you can ship within 30 days. That is why direct marketers sometimes call this the "30-day Rule." If, after taking the customer's order, you learn that you cannot ship within the time you stated or within 30 days, you must seek the customer's consent to the delayed shipment. If you cannot obtain the customer's consent to the delay -- either because it is not a situation in which you are permitted to treat the customer's silence as consent and the customer has not expressly consented to the delay, or because the customer has expressly refused to consent -- you must, without being asked, promptly refund all the money the customer paid you for the unshipped merchandise. top The U.S. Mail Fraud Statute 18 U.S.C.A. s 1341 Whoever, having devised or intending to devise any scheme or artifice to defraud, or for obtaining money or property by means of false or fraudulent pretenses, representations, or promises, or to sell, dispose of, loan, exchange, alter, give away, distribute, supply, or furnish or procure for unlawful use any counterfeit or spurious coin, obligation, security, or other article, or anything represented to be or intimated or held out to be such counterfeit or spurious article, for the purpose of executing such scheme or artifice or attempting so to do, places in any post office or authorized depository for mail matter, any matter or thing whatever to be sent or delivered by the Postal Service, or deposits or causes to be deposited any matter or thing whatever to be sent or delivered by any private or commercial interstate carrier, or takes or receives therefrom, any such matter or thing, or knowingly causes to be delivered by mail or such carrier according to the direction thereon, or at the place at which it is directed to be delivered by the person to whom it is addressed, any such matter or thing, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than five years, or both. If the violation affects a financial institution, such person shall be fined not more than $1,000,000 or imprisoned not more than 30 years, or both.top |