Athletes, families hit by Olympic ticket scam
Posted: Tuesday, August 5 2008 at 12:09 pm CT by Bob Sullivan
Lynette Lim's family might not get to see her swim in the Olympics after getting caught in an Internet ticket scam.
Ramon Mena Owens/The Press-Enterprise
The heartbreaking impact of a worldwide Internet ticket scam is only now becoming clear, as victims arrive in Beijing without the Olympics tickets they thought they had purchased months ago. Among the victims is a California man who may now be unable to watch his 16-year-old daughter compete in swimming events. The father of a U.S. softball team player also says he was scammed after he paid $3,500 for tickets to the opening ceremony.
The victims thought they had purchased their tickets from a Web site named BeijingTicketing.com. The authentic-looking site has been selling Olympics tickets for months before it was shut down this week. The site was named in a trademark infringement lawsuit filed by the International Olympic committee and the U.S. Olympic Committee on July 22.
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Why would Nigerian scammers steal books?
Posted: Friday, August 1 2008 at 05:00 am CT by Bob Sullivan
Sue Brown was excited when an order for 60 books came in a few weeks ago. Brown works for The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University in New York, one of the nation's largest agencies devoted to drug addiction research. The e-mail order from “Dr. Scott Smith” was for copies of the book "High Society: How Substance Abuse Ravages America and What to Do About It."
Brown often receives bulk orders when a professor is teaching a new class or a new support group is starting. Each one represents a small victory in the agency's effort to spread understanding about addiction.
But this order was different. For starters, the writer insisted on very speedy delivery. He wanted the books delivered to him overseas within three to five days. And the destination for the books -- Lagos, Nigeria -- gave her pause. Still, this was nothing like the Nigerian scams she'd heard about, involving e-mails promising millions of dollars in inheritances, so she began filling the order.
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Fake Craigslist ads a big headache
Posted: Tuesday, April 15 2008 at 05:00 am CT by Bob Sullivan
Diane Siddons got the call from Brandie Darnell in the middle of the day. Darnell had seen Siddons’ house advertised for rent on Craigslist and thought it was a smokin' deal: $800 a month for a five bedroom house in a Tampa Bay, Fla., suburb.
Only one problem: Siddons' house wasn't for rent. She hadn't placed any advertisement on Craigslist. Instead, a con artist had lifted photos of her home and placed them on the site as bait.
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