ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, March 15, 1996 TAG: 9603150079
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times
In the government's first crackdown on fraudulent advertising on the Internet, the Federal Trade Commission has charged nine businesses with making false claims on the global computer network, officials said Thursday.
Eight of the companies have settled the FTC charges and agreed to stop the alleged fraud or face fines of up to $10,000 per violation, agency officials said. The FTC has filed suit against a ninth company in federal district court in Illinois.
Four companies were charged with making false claims about lucrative earnings consumers could collect by setting up businesses at home after buying work-at-home programs priced between $9.95 and $147. But the companies could not substantiate the rosy income projections, FTC officials said.
Four companies were accused of making false claims about repairing consumers' credit records, including a business that also was charged with work-at-home fraud. The businesses urged consumers to send fees ranging from $19.95 to $750 for help in removing bankruptcy reports and other adverse items from their credit records. These claims also were unsubstantiated, officials said.
``Cyberspace is a new frontier for advertising and marketing,'' said Jodie Bernstein, director of the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection. ``But the Internet will not achieve its commercial potential if this new frontier becomes the `Wild West' of fraudulent schemes.''
Bernstein said the cases represent the agency's first efforts to police the rapidly expanding electronic marketplace known as the Internet.
Officials said the National Fraud Information Center, an industry-funded antifraud group, has begun taking complaints from victims of Internet-related fraud. The center, which shares the complaints with the FTC, can be reached at (800) 876-7060, or on the Internet at http://www.fraud.org.
LENGTH: Short : 42 linesby CNB