Sending scammers a holiday message

[mandy]

Santa isn't the only one getting lots of letters this holiday season.

Hundreds of people accused of scamming Internet shoppers have received letters from the Tarrant County district attorney's office, asking them to send the purchased item, refund the shopper's money -- or face prosecution.

The "letter project" -- as it has been dubbed -- has been quite successful.

So far this year, the office has recovered and returned $127,188 in restitution to Internet-shopping victims, most of whom bought something on Internet auction sites such as eBay but never got their products.

full article: http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/13348018.htm

[rose]

if the victim got duped for more than $150, sends a letter out to the suspect.

I wonder how many crooks plan their fraud accordingly to operate under the program's radar ?  :

[bargainbloodhound]

[quote author=rose link=topic=1627.msg5820#msg5820 date=1134061735]

if the victim got duped for more than $150, sends a letter out to the suspect.

I wonder how many crooks plan their fraud accordingly to operate under the program's radar ?  :
[/quote]

Probably a lot since State and Federal law enforcement agencies usually won't handle small dollar amount cases and refer the victims to local law enforcement which is usually ill equipped to handle Internet crimes...sooo, the only hope many victims have of being compensated for their loss is small claims court.

[rose]

the only hope many victims have of being compensated for their loss is small claims court.

Small claims court is hopeless.