2005 Fraud Trends: Consumers Being Hounded by Internet and Telemarketing Scams

2005 Fraud Trends: Consumers Being Hounded by Internet and Telemarketing Scams: "WASHINGTON, D.C.-Today the National Consumers League (NCL) released its annual lists of the top telemarketing and Internet scams that plagued consumers in 2005. More consumers are reporting scams, and victims are losing more money, according to the nonprofit organization, which is headquartered in Washington, DC. Based on information that consumers provided last year to NCL's National Fraud Information Center/Internet Fraud Watch program, the average loss to telemarketing fraud rose from $1,974 in 2004 to $2,892 in 2005, and Internet fraud losses more than doubled, from an average of $895 in 2004 to $1,917. The number of scams reported rose by 39 percent for telemarketing fraud and 12 percent for Internet fraud."