[September 16, 2011] Online scams affect many Tweet Sep 16, 2011 (The Press Democrat - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- Linda Snowden reluctantly signed up for the online dating service Match.com this August, at the encouragement of friends. She didn't imagine that, within three weeks, a string of three online scammers posing as handsome California bachelors would have tried to squeeze thousands from her. Following that, Snowden quit the online dating search, saying she's disillusioned with the process. Snowden is one of many Petalumans who report almost falling victim to one of the many varieties of online fraud that are proliferating around the country. Others haven't been as lucky. Internet scams take dozens of shapes: hacked e-mails, forged identities, stolen information, to name a few. But many come with the same warning sign: a feeling that something just doesn't seem right, or sounds better than it should. "If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is," said Charles White, assistant special agent in charge of the Secret Service in San Francisco. The Secret Service was founded with the purpose of investigating counterfeit money, and now investigates computer fraud and cyber scams too. He said that identity theft and other forms of cyber fraud are on the rise as criminals learn to leverage technology. The FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center said that in 2010, it received the second highest number of complaints in its 10-year history. "These folks are really fast and nimble," White said. "They used to have to dig through the trash" to get this kind of personal information, "but that's no longer necessary." He said it's important to contact an authority -- such as the Federal Trade Commission -- if an online situation doesn't feel right. Things definitely didn't seem right for Petaluma resident Rick Colt earlier this year. That's how he sidestepped a scam on Craigslist while helping his wife, from whom he was separating, find a new place to rent. A listing for a house near Sebastopol caught his wife's eye: $1,300 per month for a three-bedroom home surrounded by apple orchards and featuring a pool. They contacted the supposed landlord, who said he was a German priest. The so-called priest said he had a religious feeling that they were just the right tenants, and that if they would wire him the rent, he would arrange to get them a key. That raised Colt's suspicions, and after talking to neighbors, he learned that the house was not, in fact, owned by a German priest, that it was vacant, and that it was for sale. The scam artist had even posted pictures of the interior of the house. "I'm a little more careful now," said Colt. Other times, as in the case of an e-mail hacking, a person has no warning. That's what happened to Patricia Boyd, whose story appeared recently in the Press Democrat. Boyd told the Argus-Courier that she was shocked to learn that her friends were receiving messages from her e-mail address that she was in Spain, had lost her wallet and needed the equivalent of about $2,800 American dollars. Boyd soon learned that all 2,000 people in her contact book had received such an e-mail, and that the hacker had then deleted all the contacts so that Boyd couldn't alert them to the scam. Boyd alerted the FBI, which is investigating the matter. At least one other Petaluma resident has been the victim of the same scam. Other Petalumans have been targeted in a range of scams this year. Among other reported Internet scams: An "online shopper" who sends what appears to be an authentic cashier's check for $999 with the request that the victim cash it, then keep a small portion and forward the rest to the scammer to cover his supposed expenses, and cars posted for sale online that turn out to be non-existent when the victim sends in cash. Petaluma Police Lt. Tim Lyons suspects such incidents are on the rise, but says the trend is hard to track. Online scams can fall under more than 30 different categories, he said, depending on the circumstances. For instance, stolen money is tracked in one way, and stolen identity in another. He added that many people may not report the incident out of embarrassment for having fallen victim to a scam or because they feel the money can't be recovered. Lyons suggested that if someone has suspicions about whether or not a transaction is legitimate, he or she should call the police or run the situation by a friend or relative. Suspicious incidents on online sites like Craigslist or eBay should be reported to the companies, he said. Snowden said she contacted Match.com after encountering her first scammer on that site, but she wasn't happy with the representative's response: That they would flag the person's account and investigate the issue, but that they still had to protect the person's account. The Argus-Courier requested information from Match.com and Craigslist on how to avoid such scams, but did not hear back from either company by press time. White maintained that being vigilant and following intuition was the best way to avoid such ever-changing scams. "You're your own best advocate," he said. Members of the public are also encouraged to report what they believe to be fraudulent activity to www.ic3.gov. ___ (c)2011 The Press Democrat (Santa Rosa, Calif.) Visit The Press Democrat (Santa Rosa, Calif.) at www.pressdemocrat.com Distributed by MCT Information Services [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]