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How many times have you seen an offer on the Internet that caused you to think "this just looks too good to be true"? Today's consumer is inundated with all kinds of offers, has access to an unprecedented array of services and products from all over the world, and doesn't even have to leave home to take advantage of them. The Internet is usually a safe and convenient place for consumers to do business, but swindlers also see this as a convenient place to do their business - fraud. According to the Internet Crime Complaint Center, 207,449 complaints were reported in 2004, a 66.6 percent increase over 2003; the total monetary loss from all referred cases of fraud was $68.14 million with a median dollar loss of $219.56 per complaint. To combat these cyber outlaws, the LooksTooGoodToBeTrue initiative, an Internet fraud prevention campaign being jointly undertaken by federal law enforcement agencies and major corporations, was announced today. The Merchant Risk Council and major corporations Monster Worldwide, Inc. (NASDAQ: MNST), parent company of the leading global online career and recruitment resource, Monster(R), and Target Corporation have joined the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the National White Collar Crime Center's Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) in this education and awareness campaign. The cornerstone of this Internet fraud prevention campaign is the website www.LooksTooGoodToBeTrue.com. Developed by the joint industry/law enforcement group, the site offers consumers in-depth information on the latest Internet scams, including auction fraud, identity fraud, reshipping scams and foreign lotteries. It also alerts the American public to scams related to Hurricane Katrina and other disasters. In addition, the site offers prevention tips to web users and an online risk assessment test to determine how vulnerable users are to scams. Consumers can file complaints via the site and can order "Web of Deceit," a free DVD on Internet fraud prevention produced by the Postal Inspection Service.
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