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On this page, we share selected E-Genie questions and answers with our readers. If your question is among them, great. If not, just email the E-Genie at lct@u.washington.edu.

Sorry, but the E-Genie cannot respond directly to every email request or give legal advice. But we do try, and we post answers to frequently asked questions.

Click to see an E-Genie Question and Answer

Current Q & A

Tracking a Fraudulent Telemarketer

Past Q & As

Monitoring a Masquerading Minor - How adult sites are able to charge underage visitors

Can You Identify Me? - What is personally identifiable information?

Travel Visa Required? - Are travel agents required to inform customers of Visa requirements?

Consumer Protection, Net-Style - Online Resources for Washington Consumer Protection.

Internet Smut via Spam Scam - What are the laws about unsolicited email?

Suits of Spam - What are the laws about unsolicited email?

Dumbfounded by DSL - Is DSL an internet service, or a type of phone?

Secure Email and The Law - When to be "secure" about emailing to and from a lawyer.

Small Claims Skills - How to determine who to sue when dealing with an out-of-state company.

Driver Beware - How to verify a prize offer that seems too good to be true.

Twice Taken - What to do about fraud through an online auction.

Pyramid Power? - Information about pyramid schemes.

All Charged Up - Information about credit card charge backs and disputing charges.

Porn by Phone - How to deal with phone charges for 1-900 and adult phone numbers.

Holding The Bag? - information on check cashing and when stopping payment is and isn't possible.

Looking Before Leaping - online resources for discovering complaints about a company.

Tracking a Fraudulent Telemarketer

3/18/2003

Question: I am trying to locate past history on a potentially fraudulent individual who sets up telemarketing shops, runs up the bills, and moves on. Where can I find a list of reported fraudulent telemarketers, either by name or by company name?

Telemarketer Be Gone

Answer: Dear Telemarketer Be Gone:

Thank you for contacting the E-Genie. While the Genie cannot tell you what action to take or otherwise give legal advice, we are more than happy to point you to resources on the Web that can assist you and possibly answer your questions. Should you require legal advice, please consult an attorney directly. While we cannot vouch for the accuracy of information contained on the Web, we have located some websites that may be of interest to you.

Illegitimate telemarketers took almost $1.3 million in the first half of 2002 alone. People should be aware of the warning signs and always investigate any person or organization asking for money over the phone. This does not mean that every telemarketer is trying to deceive you. But they should never pressure you into a sale or demand immediate payment. Visit any number of the sites listed below for more warning and suggestions in dealing with any telemarketer. The e-Genie's favorite cliché to heart: "If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is".

Here are a few useful links:

http://www.wa.gov/ago/consumer/telefraud.shtml

http://www.usdoj.gov/criminal/fraud/telemarketing/action.htm

http://www.fraud.org/telemarketing/teleinfo.htm

http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/menu-tmark.htm

http://www.fbi.gov/hq/cid/fc/ec/about/about_tm.htm

As a general answer, there is no complete list of fraudulent telemarketers. While there may be some privately created lists (note: the e-Genie couldn't find one in an extensive internet search), the dependability of any list would be in question. As the Department of Justice suggests on their website, keeping up such a list would prove difficult due to the number of both legitimate and fraudulent businesses that are launched or dissolved every day. Without a list to check someone, what can you do? Every source consulted encourages people who suspect they have been victims of fraud to report it as soon as possible.

The Department of Justice suggests two different national organizations to report to. -National Fraud Information Center (1-800-876-7060) or you can use their online complaint form -Federal Trade Commission Consumer Response Center (1-202-382-4357)

Your state's attorney general can also help or direct you to the best place in your area for help. You can find your AG at http://www.naag.org.

If you do not like receiving telemarketing calls, you should ask to be taken When you receive calls from a telemarketer, you should immediately ask them to take your name and telephone number off of their list and not to contact you further. The federal Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) requires telemarketers to maintain a "do not call list" and honor any request to not be called again. The TCPA is has been updated to create a federal "Do Not Call" list designed to prevent consumers from receiving unwanted telemarketing calls. Consumers can avoid unwanted telemarketing calls by registering their phone number once rather than having to inform each telemarketer of their desire never to be called again. Many states have already implemented their own state "Do Not Call" lists (see your local attorney general's website for local information) and a national list is under development (the latest on this can be found at http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/edcams/donotcall/). Specific details of how consumers can include their telephone numbers on the federal Do not Call Registry can be found here http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/tmarkg/donotcall.htm

Under certain circumstances, a telemarketer who ignores the Do Not Call list and makes an unauthorized call to a consumer may be fined up to $11,000 per call. We hope you found this information helpful.

Monitoring a Masquerading Minor

1/13/2003

Question: My son accessed my girlfriend's computer while we were at work. He is 15 years old and somehow figured a way around the passwords. He entered an adult website which we were unaware of until we received a bill for $366.

We contacted the mailer of the bill, who told us we were responsible for the bill. After talking to my son, we found out they asked for no proof of age, like a credit card. They just asked "are you 18" and "do you accept the terms." Don't adult websites have to ask for more proof than "are you 18?"

They downloaded a modem monitor to watch the amount of time he was on the website. The company is Alyon Technologies and they said they could not give me the name of the website so I could see what the terms were and have it for my records. What actions can I take and do we have to pay this bill? Isn't it illegal to let a minor into an adult pay website?

Puzzled Parent

Answer: Dear Parent:

After reviewing Alyon Technologies' website (http://www.alyon.net), it looks like the company charges companies by initiating a program to dial a long distance number over the consumer's modem and then charging high rates for the phone call. The consumer then accesses the pornography while the modem is connected to this long distance number. While this is legitimate in principle, systems like this (not necessarily from Alyon) have caused quite a few complaints from consumers such as you. In fact, the e-Commerce Genie has helped others in your position before. For a good discussion of many of these issues, see our response to "Scammed by Smutty Spam" ( http://law.washington.edu/lct/genie/answers.html#Smut).

Many others, probably including your representative in congress, share your concern about the legality of allowing a minor into an adult pay site. In 1998, congress passed the Child Online Protection Act (COPA). The law has not been enforced yet due to a court ordered injunction (many are concerned about its affect under the first amendment). If the law does go into effect, it will require a site to use an adult verification system before displaying pornography. But as of this writing, there are not any laws specifically requiring a stringent procedure for preventing minor's entrance to pornographic sites. Following are several sites addressing these issues and related ones. Http://www.protectkids.com http://www.wa.gov/ago/safetynet/kids.shtml You may also file a complaint with your state's Attorney General Office. To find your state's Attorney General look to http://www.naag.org/ag/full_ag_table.php. An example of one site is the Washington Attorney General's online complaint filing: http://www.wa.gov/ago/consumer/complain.html. If your son used a credit card to pay for access to the website, you should file a complaint through the credit card company stating that your son is a minor and that you did not authorize the charges. Through the credit card "charge back" process, you may be able to resolve your complaint and have the charges reversed

Copyright Your Website

11/12/2002

Question: Hello, E-commerce Genie. My son and his friends are making a movie. They're also creating a website for the movie, and they want to know how to copyright the website. Can you provide any information? Thanks!

Movie Mother

Answer: Dear Movie Mother:

There is a simple answer and a more detailed answer, and the e-Genie will give you both! First the easy answer. In order to copyright their website they need to…design it and click save. That's it. Any copyrightable material in the United States is protected upon physical manifestation. For a book, that means writing it down. For a painting, that means putting it on canvas. For a website, its designing the html and saving the file to your hard drive, floppy disk, or compact disc.

Is that all there is to it? Yes and no. You do have copyright protection but you cannot sue someone for infringement unless you register the copyrighted work with the U.S. Copyright office. If you do this within the first three-month after the item is published (put on the internet, in the case of a website), then you will be entitled to receive an amount specified in the laws. But if you wait longer, you are only able to receive an amount equal to the actual amount you were injured by the infringing website.

How exactly do you register a copyrighted work? It is a three-step process. First, Fill out the appropriate forms. Second, include a $30 filing fee. Finally, attach a copy of the work. All of this will be sent to the U.S. Copyright office. For information on their address and to see the forms online, visit their website at http://www.copyright.gov. For other sites of interest see:

Stanford Library's Copyright and Fair use
The Copyright Website
What is Copyright
How to Copyright Your Website

Your son will also want to register the name of his movie as a domain name, to avoid someone else getting there first. A list of domain name registration services can be found at http://www.icann.org/registrars/accredited-list.html

Good luck on the movie and the website!

What is Personally Identifiable Information?

10/28/2002

Question: Dear E-Commerce Genie:
Hi. My question is on Internet privacy. Can the last three digits of a customer's telephone number and the last two digits of their birth year be considered personally identifiable information? Please respond as soon as possible.

Puzzled about Personal Info.

Answer: Dear Puzzled:

In practical terms, the combination of the last three digits of a telephone number and the last two digits of the year of birth are not "unique" identifiers. In order to be unique, every person born in a certain year would have to have the last three digits of their phone number differ. But that doesn't always mean it can't be "likely" to identify you. In fact, one study discovered that the combination of zip code and birth date could identify many people when compared to voting records. If a web site was working with a small customer base, the likelihood you could be identified from that combination would increase.

Even if the number does not qualify as "personally identifiable" in and of itself, it may still become identifying when combined with other information available publicly or purchased by a business.

What does this mean? It means that information such as your phone number and your birth date can be sold to third parties who may also use it to market things to you (catalogs, advertisements, spam, etc). This information can also be used by other companies or persons to create a larger profile of you, which combines information and data about you gathered from multiple sources. If you so an Internet search on the web and type in

If you are concerned about how such information might be used, you should read a company's privacy policy carefully. If you are asked to provide certain information, you should find out whether this is kept confidential or sold to other companies.

If you'd like more information on personal records and Internet privacy, the E-Genie recommends some of the following sites:

Electronic Privacy Information Center (http://www.epic.org/privacy/)

Center for Democracy and Technology (http://www.cdt.org/privacy/issues/pii/)

Travel Visa Required?

10/12/2002

Question: Dear E-commerce Genie:

I would like to know if an online travel agency, such as Yahoo and Expedia, is legally obligated to inform travelers, who book air tickets and hotel on the agency's web page, about any visa requirement if the travelers are planning to travel to foreign country.

Thank you for your help in advance,
-Visaless on Vacation

Answer:Dear Visaless:

We hope your plane has not departed and you still have time to get your visa!

Only a hand full of states, including Washington, New York and California, regulate travel agents. Many states have found that travel agents do owe a duty to their customers, but whether that extends to informing the customer of a visa requirement in the destination country is not specifically settled in most states. As far as we cal tell, only New York state has specifically required this.

So while arguments may be made that a travel agent, even an online one, should tell you about visa requirements, in the majority of places, it is not a clear cut rule the customer can depend on.

Therefore the eGenie boldly suggests that researching visa requirements on your own is the best way to make sure you won't be stranded in a foreign airport. So how do you find that out? Well, I'm glad you asked...

Inquire at the embassy or consulate of the country you will be interested in visiting. While this can be done in person or over the phone, it can also often be done online. Many of those embassies are listed at Governments on the WWW ( http://www.gksoft.com/govt/en/representations.html)

State Department offers a very helpful, and apparently underused, travel website at http://www.travel.state.gov . Along with the other information, it includes a page on foreign visa requirements at http://www.travel.state.gov/foreignentryreqs.html

There are also several online sites that will process a visa for you. While the processing costs a fee, it is often free to search for the visa requirements of a particular country.

More information on the rights of travelers can be found at:
Passengerrights.com (http://www.passengerrights.com)
MyTravelRights.com (http://www.mytravelrights.com)

We hope this information is the type you are looking for, and we hope it helped. Please let us know if it was what you needed, and be sure to tell your friends about the e-Genie!

Thanks,

Consumer Protection, Net-style

07/08/2002

Question: Dear E-commerce Genie:

I'm looking for some resource material on "consumer protection on the Internet". Do you know of any articles or websites I could possibly have a look at?

Thanks,
Constantly Concerned Washington Consumer

Answer: Dear Constantly Concerned:

Thank you for contacting the E-Commerce Genie at the Shidler Center for Law, Commerce & Technology at the University of Washington. While the Genie cannot tell you what action to take or otherwise give legal advice, we'd be more than happy to point you to resources on the Web that can assist you and possibly answer your questions. Should you require legal advice, please consult an attorney. We have located some websites that may be of interest to you. Please be aware, however, that we cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information contained on those sites.

You've come to the right place! One of the main focuses at the Shidler Center for Law, Commerce & Technology is consumer protection laws and the Internet.

Some resources to get you started can be found on our website, several of these pages link to other pages as well.

About every other week, the Shidler Center reviews a website that provides consumer or citizen information to the general public. The list of archived reviews is at http://www.law.washington.edu..//gc_links.html

As you can see, the biggest category is consumer protection. Many of these sites give consumers information to insure their online and offline activities are safe and informed.

From a legal standpoint, a state's Attorney General Office is often the primary protector of consumer's interests, and Washington State is no exception. In addition the Washington state Attorney General's office has a significant web presence. The part of the website specifically geared towards consumer protection is at:

http://www.wa.gov/ago/consumer/

The AG's Office also has a cyber clearinghouse with information relating to consumer protection and the Internet as well as cyber crime and cyber fraud

http://www.wa.gov/ago/clearinghouse/

In particular, one project, a collaboration between several non-profits and
state agencies including the WA Attorney General's office, is likely what you may be looking for. It is basically a search engine for non-commercial consumer protection sites, called Find-It! Consumer, and it is on the web at:

http://finditconsumer.wa.gov/

We hope this information is the type you are looking for, and we hope it helped. Please let us know if it was what you needed, and be sure to tell your friends about the e-Genie!

Thanks,

Internet Smut via Spam Scam

06/08/2002

Question: Dear E-commerce Genie:

A young man visiting our home checked his e-mail and was contacted by an Internet porn site. He went to the web site and I have a $700 phone bill. He did not have our permission to do this. I am angry that the company did not ask for credit card information or any other means of verifying that this child who is not of age could access this site. I called the phone company and found that I will lose my telephone service if I do not pay the phone company the $700. The phone company is not even my long distance carrier, they just have a contract with this smut company. Am I responsible for this bill?

On a related note, a young man in the area who is in special ed classes and does not comprehend well also received e-mail and contacted the same company. There is no way he could have comprehended any disclaimers. Are they also responsible? Thanks for any information.

Scammed by Smutty Spam

Answer: Dear Scammed:

Thank you for contacting the E-Commerce Genie. While the Genie cannot tell you what action to take or otherwise give legal advice, we are more than happy to point you to resources on the Web that can assist you and possibly answer your questions. Should you require legal advice, please consult an attorney directly. While we cannot vouch for the accuracy of information contained on the web, we have located some sites that may be helpful to you as you try to resolve your problem. There is a lot of information in our message below. We first have tried to locate some sites and articles that may help explain what has happened and then have indicated where you might turn for assistance.

1. What does the website say?

We visited the porn site you mentioned. . . .

It does have an option where people can view the material without paying by credit card. Users have to click onto a special part of the site that allows one to bill charges to a phone number. The site reads as follows:

NO CREDIT CARD OR CHECK? NO PROBLEM! You can get INSTANT access with your phone! JOIN TODAY WITH YOUR PHONE! IN JUST SECONDS! (get access to 10 top ranked adult websites today) In just a matter of minutes you can access top rated adult internet websites! Containing over 100,000+ images, 25,000+ in video clips, Stories, Live Chat, Video Cameras, and SO much more! BAD CREDIT? NO CREDIT AT ALL? NO PROBLEM! YOU WILL BE BILLED FOR LONG DISTANCE CHARGES ONLY

The company does not appear to mention how much the calls will cost at this point in the process. When you click to join, the user needs to download a program in order to gain access to the site. We did not execute the program so we do not know if there are any either disclosures about the cost of the long distance calls per minute.

2. Terms of membership

We also reviewed the terms of membership on the site. There is an email address at the bottom of the contract - you might email a letter or message to the company and explain your situation. As you will see from reading the contract/user agreement, the porn site anticipated just the kind of situation that you have experienced.

Terms & Conditions for membership

Your age.

You must be an adult to enter and view this site. How old you are required to be, depends on your local laws. Somewhere people are adults when 18, other places you have to be 21. If you're in doubt, do not consider yourself an adult unless you are 21 or older.

Legal

This site contains pictures, stories and video clips picturing containing sexual acts between animals and people, mostly women. It must be legal for you where you live to view bestiality pictures. You are responsible for knowing whether or not it's legal where you live. We do NOT issue refunds if you suddenly discover that it is not legal to view bestiality pictures in your region. It is your obligation to know this before entering the site and joining.

Inaccessibility

This is the internet, this means that there will be times when the site is slow or inaccessible because Acts of God, Phone companies, hardware, viruses etc. We do not take any responsibility for things that are out of our control. There may also be times where we take the site down for a short period for maintenance or changes. This is a necessary part of maintaining a website. We will NOT issue a refund or credit for these occurrences. What we WILL do is extend tickets if the site is inaccessible for a longer period. Tickets Your ticket is personal. This means that you cannot give it out to friends, post it in a newsgroup or on a web page. This constitutes credit card fraud and is punishable by law. We will immediately terminate any tickets that have been abused, and will not issue a refund or any credit. Refund policy We do not refund tickets because you have suddenly changed your mind. It is very clear what this site is about, and if you're not sure you want to view this material, you should not join. Remember - You will be able to enter the site if you have set your browser to default settings. If you recognize the following - My son used my credit card without my consent.... and all the similar statements that people comes up with to get refunded, well sorry that doesn't cut it anymore. It's your responsibility to keep track of your credit card and that no one without your knowledge uses it. If someone unknown to you is placing charges on your credit card, now would be a very good time to call your credit card issuer, cancel that card number and start over with a new one. Actually the only time a refund is granted is - in case of multiple charges, and in case of unsolvable technical problems. Then we will look into the matter and decide if a refund is due. It should be noted that, with very few exceptions, every credit card refund results in that card number being entered into Ibill's negative database. This is Ibill's in-house record of past problem customers. Yes, it's possible for a never-before-encountered credit card number to fraudulently buy from one Ibill client... once. After that, the card number is forever blocked from purchasing anything from any Ibill client. By joining this site, you have accepted the terms and conditions mentioned above. If you cannot accept these terms - do not join. We're sorry if these rules seems strict, but unfortunately it's proven to be necessary. If you have any questions or comments about these Terms & Conditions or the content of the site, do not hesitate to send mail to webmaster@teenspread.com

3. Has this happened to other people?

The answer is yes. In some instances, kids (or adults) have visited websites and found that their modem has been hijacked or diverted to making a long distance call to some far way country such as Chad, Madagascar or Vanuatu. The cost per minute for calls to these countries is huge and the pornography site or other website makes a lot of money as a result. Here is a good article that explains what may have happened to you and also explains what you can do IN FUTURE to protect yourself, your family and your computer.

Part Two of Boys and Online Porn: What's A Mom To Do?

Barbara Cooke http://www.familyeducation.com/article/0,1120,20-17313-0-2,00.html

Some other useful articles include:

Porn Scammers Calling the Shots by Lynn Burke

http://www.wirednews.com/news/business/0,1367,36055,00.html

Hey, Babe, Wanna Call ... Chad?

http://www.wirednews.com/news/business/0,1367,35627-2,00.html

Here is a message/article posted by an individual who also has had a similar experience to yours:

Recently many people have been discovering mysterious charges on their phone bills for very high priced long distance calls. Sometimes these calls are to the nation of Chad. Sometimes to the island of Vanuatu. I recently received a charge for two calls to Vanuatu. For a total of 6 minutes, the charge was over $40. The calls were made through AT&T long distance, even though the phone they were made from was supposed to have no long distance access at all. After spending a frustrating time on the phone with representatives at AT&T, I finally learned that the company that owns this scam is AT&T. This revelation came from an AT&T representative who at first refused to tell me who was going to get the money I was being billed. After persisting, the representative said, "It could be anybody; in fact, AT&T owns some of these companies." I then asked, "Does AT&T own this one?" He answered, "Yes, sir, it does." In other words, the phone calls that were made from my minor son's computer to access pornography was supplied by AT&T. This appears to have started some time ago with a fraudulent scheme to cause people's computers to dial a phone number in Moldavia. Now, other companies have seen the huge potential for profit, and are jumping on the bandwagon. . . . It appears that AT&T also saw dollars in this, and now supplies this kind of stuff itself. The way the technology works is that you download a small program after being told "NO CREDIT CARD". In small print later, you are told that you will be making a long distance phone call, but it's practically hidden in all the hype about how you don't have to have a credit card (appealing to minors) and how there is no registration procedure (appealing to minors again). Once the program is downloaded, it terminates your Internet dial up connection. (It hangs up the phone, quite simply.) Then it uses your modem to dial the overseas number. More fraudulent intent can be seen in the fact that now you will have something on your desktop called ISP.EXE, which, of course, is not a shortcut to any ISP, but is a trick to get you to make yet another horribly expensive long distance phone call. When you call AT&T regarding this, all you get is a runaround. They know that exact number that is on my phone bill ("Mr. Presale, it's in Vanuatu, and it's a psychic and pornography site, and here is exactly how it works...") but when you ask for the name of the company, you get nothing but "I don't know" or "I don't have any information about this" or "I can't release that information" until finally, if you are lucky and persistent, you learn that AT&T runs the operation itself. Of course, AT&T insists that I pay for the pornography it supplied. They say the issue is "settled" and there is nothing more to discuss. I won't pay. I'll see these crooks in court first. They can explain to the judge and jury why I should pay for the pornography they delivered to a 16-year-old boy. I've read that this scam is extending to psychic services and game sites, as well. By all indications, this scam will only spread before somebody calls this company on their scheme. If you have experienced such fraud and illegal activity by AT&T, please write to me. I think people need to stand up to this company and make it honor it's moral obligations as one of the largest companies in the world. AT&T should not be in the business of tricking underage children into making long distance phone calls to access pornography.

from http://dan_pressnell.tripod.com/attporn.html

Still another article on the topic that includes some information about investigations by the Federal Trade Commission and the Federal Communications Commission

http://wings.buffalo.edu/Complaw/CompLawPapers/flanders.htm

Some useful information from this article:

Access to adult, pornographic, information, and other entertainment over the phone lines, is of course nothing new. The pay-per-call industry is big business, can generate huge returns for the service owners, and consequently can become a target for abuse. Thus, owners operating such pay-per-call lines have, over time, found themselves under more and more stringent rules and regulations. Responding to what it interpreted as a need to help naive consumers with their use of 1-900 number services, the FTC promulgated the Telephone Disclosure and Dispute Resolution Act of 1992. The Act was adopted by Congress in 1993; the law is more commonly known at the 900-Number Rule. In short, the law mandates that any advertisement for a pay-per-call service must clearly and conspicuously disclose the cost of the use of the telephone number -- including the cost or cost per minute as well as any other fees for the service and for any other pay-per-call service to which the service may be transferred. An advertisement must also explain that callers under the age of eighteen need parental permission before making the call. A provider may not advertise an 800 or similar "widely understood" toll free number from which callers are connected to a pay-per-call service. In addition, the law requires that any pay-per-call message also disclose the service being provided, explain the cost per minute, and that parental permission is mandatory for minors, and enable the caller to hang up at the end of the introductory message without incurring any charge. Despite such measures furthered by the FTC, 1-900 and 1-976 pay-per-call service providers have managed to bypass domestic regulation by moving offshore. While the majority of the public has become aware of the high charges involved in placing calls to 1-900 pay-per-call services, many people are not able to recognize international telephone numbers, nor are they aware of how costly a call to another country can be. Normally, international telephone numbers begin with "011" followed by a six or seven digit number. However, some countries, for example Canada and many Caribbean countries, have numbers that begin with what could easily be mistaken for U.S. area codes. Sex lines are often set up by foreign phone companies "solely to generate calls from other countries." To make matters worse for consumers, some of these offshore services lure people in by using 1-800 numbers as "gateways to overseas calls." In some cases, a caller dials the 1-800 number and is then told by a message to dial an access code which connects them directly to the overseas service. Consumers accustomed to 1-800 numbers as toll free calls are very often surprised to receive their monthly telephone bill and see hundreds of dollars in long-distance international calls. In other cases, messages at the other end of a 1-800 number may tell the caller "to hang up and dial a number that turns out to be an overseas call." Long-distance companies like MCI employ fraud investigators to monitor customers' calls and look for unusual charges. "Investigators pay particular attention to calls to Sao Tome and certain Caribbean nations, especially if customers rarely make international calls." AT&T will block international calls if a consumer so requests; however, these blocks can easily be circumvented "by dialing another [telephone] carrier's access code." While these international calls are not charged at the traditional 1-900 number pay-per-call rate, the FTC says that international dial-a-porn providers have made deals with foreign phone companies to sell long-distance phone service at higher than usual international rates. "[C]alls are routed through the overseas phone company at the higher rate." An MCI spokesperson has said that customers have seen international telephone bills as high as $800 or $900 per day. The Telecommunications Act of 1996, extends the definition of such pay-per-call services contained within the 900-Number Rule to cover other similar audio information and entertainment services not accessed by dialing 900 if they also are "susceptible to the unfair and deceptive practices" prohibited by the 900-Number Rule.

Another article: http://www.adlawbyrequest.com/regulators/DialUpSexScam.shtml

4. What can you do?

The Genie cannot tell you what the outcome of your situation will be. We encourage you to contact various government agencies and to correspond with the telephone company and AT&T concerning your situation. Be as detailed as possible about your situation. As you will see from the articles that we listed about, most of them mention preventing the problem from happening or recurring in the future. If the company has engaged in a deceptive or fraudulent business practice then your state attorney general or the Federal Trade Commission might bring an enforcement action against them (previous cases are summarized in the articles listed above). In order for this to happen, however, people such as yourself need to be vigilant about filing complaints. First, you should send a letter to the phone company and to AT&T explaining your situation and the fact that the person who contacted the site was a minor., You might also mention to what extent the email message or the website itself was deceptive or did not clearly explain what types of charges would be billed to your phone bill. It often helps to cc the state attorney general on your letter. You should also consider contacting your state attorney general's consumer protection office. They will often have a procedure for filing a consumer complaint and in certain circumstances will contact the phone company on your behalf or begin an investigation.

A list of state attorneys general and their relevant websites can be found at: http://www.naag.org/about/ag1.cfm

The Federal Communications Commission also wants to hear from consumers like you who have experienced "modem scams" http://www.fcc.gov/cib/consumerfacts/ModemScam.html

Similarly, the Federal Trade Commission has brought enforcement actions against some of these website operators and companies that have set up these long distance dialing scams. You can read more about this and also file another complaint at:

http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/alerts/modmalrt.htm

Finally, you might consider going to small claims court. Further information about small claims procedures in general can be found at: http://www.nolo.com/encyclopedia/articles/cm/CM19.html

A listing of all small claims courts in the United States can be found at http://prairielaw.com/members/register.asp (look on the left hand side of the page for the small claims center) We hope that you find this information useful.

Please let us know how helpful the information has been and don't forget to tell your friends and colleagues about the E-Commerce Genie

Suits of Spam

04/08/2002

Question: Dear E-commerce Genie:

What criminal or other charges can be brought against a spammer if they have forged the domain name of a Washington state resident?

Seething about Spam

Answer: Dear Seething:

Washington has a law that outlaws certain types of unsolicited email, or spam. Under the Commercial Electronic Mail Act, which is spelled out at the Washington legislature's website:

"A person may not send or assist in sending an email message from a computer located in Washington or to an electronic mail address that the sender knows, or has reason to know, is held by a Washington resident that:

(a) uses a third party's internet domain name without permission of the third party, or otherwise misrepresents or obscures any information in identifying the point of origin or the transmission path of a commercial electronic mail message; or

(b) contains false or misleading information in the subject line. A person who violates the law is liable for damages of $500 or actual damages, whichever is higher."

Part of the Washington Attorney General's web site is right on point and full of information on this law on deceptive spam. See it at:

http://www.wa.gov/ago/clearinghouse/consumer/junkemail/home.html

The website discusses your options for filing a complaint against the spammer with the Washington Attorney General's Office. You can also initiate a case in small claims court. You may need to consult an attorney before pursuing legal action. Please note that the legal actions that can be pursued are civil and not criminal.

A Washington citizen, Ed McNichol, has a useful and quite comprehensive, if not entirely accurate, web page on the law, it's passage, and what actions citizens can take under it. Definitely take the time to read through it as well.

http://www.mcnichol.com/spam.htm

Here is another spam resource website which includes information about using the Washington law:

http://www.aboutspam.com/stepone.php

Please also take the time to read the summaries of the several state laws, several of which make aspects of spamming criminal.

http://www.spamlaws.com/state/summary.html

http://www.suespammers.org/us/

Some other useful spam resources. These pages provide information about how to trace spam and how to decode an email header on a spam message:

http://combat.uxn.com/

http://www.spamhaus.org/

We hope that you found these resources useful. Don't forget to tell your friends and colleagues about the E-commerce Genie.

Sincerely,

Dumbfounded by DSL

03/10/2002

Question: Dear E-commerce Genie:

Is Digital Subscriber Line service an Internet access service or a high-speed data instrument?

Dumbfounded by DSL

Answer: Dear Dumbfounded:

Thank you for contacting the E-Commerce Genie. While the Genie cannot tell you what action to take or otherwise give legal advice, we'd be more than happy to point you to resources on the Web that can assist you and possibly answer your questions. Should you require legal advice, please consult an attorney. We have located some websites that may be of interest to you. Please be aware, however, that we cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information contained on those sites.

Congratulations, this is clearly one of those cases where either way you look at it, you're right! DSL is basically a communication technology that permits high speed connections between computers using ordinary phone lines. The acronym DSL stands for Digital Subscriber Line. DSL trumps the familiar analog phone line modem is a number of ways. First is speed. Analog modem speed peaks at 56K. DSL speed varies with the level of service you buy, home users typically can download at 256Kbps or better (but upload speeds may vary). Second is flexibility. An analog modem ties up a phone line. You can talk or surf, just not at the same time. DSL allows simultaneous voice communication and data transmission. Your analog modem generates sounds that carry the information to and from the Internet. A DSL modem relies on a more complex digital signal that's more efficient at moving across your phone line. Because DSL communication relies on a special DSL modem (or more precisely two modems and a line) the term DSL indeed refers to hardware (or if I may quote you "a high-speed data instrument").

Even when you have a DSL connection, you need a one thing more: access to the Internet itself. Providing this "Internet access service" is the job of an Internet service provider (usually shortened to "ISP"). Think of an ISP as a big black box with wires going in and wires going out. The incoming wires are from the modems in your computer. The outgoing wires lead to the Internet. The job of the black box is to manage the conversation between the wires coming in and out. Some ISPs, usually your phone company, will sell you a package called DSL service. While that package will usually include a modem for your end, it will certainly include access to a DSL modem on their end (in their black box) plus a connection to the Internet.

Some useful links that discuss DSL include CNET's glossary at:

http://cnet.com/Resources/Info/Glossary/Terms/dsl.html

ZDNET's coverage of the pros and cons of DSL:

http://www.zdnet.com/zdhelp/stories/main/0,5594,914908,00.html

The DSL Forum's Technical Info page:

http://www.adsl.com/dsl_forum.html

Hope that helps! Please let me know if you found this information helpful and don't forget to tell your friends and colleagues about my service!

Sincerely,

Secure Email and the Law

02/01/2002

Question: Dear E-commerce Genie:

I'm trying to find either published research or expertise on the subject of security risks associated with e-mail communication among lawyers, law firms, their clients, and other parties. Specifically we would like to know about efforts to implement secure (signed and/or encrypted) e-mail by law firms.

Thanks in advance for your help!
Edgy about E-Mail

Answer: Dear Edgy:

Secure email is a very desirable alternative for lawyers looking to utilize email in their communications with clients, but concerned about the privacy implications of traditional, non-secure email. Because standard email is not entirely secure, questions about what effect using email would have on the existence of attorney-client privilege arose. It seemed that if email "could" be tampered with or viewed, the medium was not secure. ABA Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility addressed this issue with a formal opinion in 1999, that generally recognized the legitimacy & security of unencrypted email. It can be found at :
http://www.abanet.org/cpr/fo99-413.html

Several state bars have made similar findings, they are listed at:
http://www.hricik.com/email.html

Legal ethics.com has several resources as well.
http://www.legalethics.com/articles.law?auth=intnl.txt

And Lawlinks.com has a very comprehensive list of article on the subject:
http://resource.lawlinks.com/Content/Ethics_and_Professional_Responsibility/attorney_client_relations.htm

When it comes to on-the-ground problems and challenges to implementing such a system, the Web also provides some useful information.

An overview of common implementations of secure email, commissioned for UK schools but still helpful, can be found at:
http://www.jisc.ac.uk/pub00/secemail_disc.html

LLRX.com also provides some useful information, including a list of several firms and their implementations.
http://www.llrx.com/email/reality.htm

It also provides a critical editorial to firms rushing to implement encrypted email, urging restraint:
http://www.llrx.com/email/pkemail.htm

Thanks for contacting the E-Commerce Genie. We hope the information is helpful.
Please send us feedback and don't forget to tell your friends and colleagues about the Genie!

Sincerely,

Small Claims Skills

02/01/2002

Question: Dear Court-wise Conjurer,

I may need to sue an out-of-state e-retailer in small claims court for not replacing defective merchandise. I was told by my county's district court office that I need to find out from the Attorney General who the company's "registered agent" is.

Sincerely,
Saddled with a Small Claim

Answer: Dear Saddled,

Before starting, if you haven't done so already, determine if you can sue an out of state retailer in small claims court. If the party you are suing has no local presence in your state there may be a basic question of your state's jurisdiction over that party. Check with the court. We have located some useful sites that discuss how to sue in small claims court:

http://www.peopleslawyer.net/smallclaims/

http://www.nolo.com/encyclopedia/Subtopic76

A listing of small claims courts by state can be found at the following sites:

http://consumer.pub.findlaw.com/courts/small/index.html (more comprehensive)

http://www.consumeraffairs.com/consumerism/small_states.htm (only some states)

Assuming your small claims courts permits you to sue, you will need to serve the company's registered agent with a summons to appear in court.

The registered agent (sometimes known as a resident agent) is the individual or company designated to accept and properly handle any process served on the corporation or company you are suing. Most states require a corporation to maintain a registered agent in the state as a condition of incorporation.

So first determine the state in which the out of state e-retailer is incorporated. To do this you may have to consult the web site or any paper work (e.g., receipts) you have. A company may have a business office in one state but be incorporated in a different state business office, so you may have to dig. Once you've located the state of incorporation, contact the office of the state's Attorney General or Secretary of State.

You'll find a list of state attorneys general at the National Association of Attorneys General website:

http://www.naag.org/about/ag.html

and a list of state secretaries of state at the National Association of Secretaries of State

http://www.nass.org/sos/sos.html

or at

http://www.secst.com/secr (note: this is a commercial site).

Many states provide an online database of companies registered in the particular state. These databases are often located on the secretary of state's website. Normally information contained in the database will include the name and address of the registered agent.

Another possibility: if you paid for the merchandise by credit card, contact the credit card company and determine if you can dispute the bill. Without knowing more about the length of time since the purchase, it is hard to say how effective this tactic will be. But if you have yet to pay for the merchandise, working with the credit card company may offer you the most leverage.

Thank you for contacting the E-Commerce Genie. We welcome your feedback on how useful you found the information we located. Don't forget to tell your friends and colleagues about the E-Commerce Genie.

Driver Beware

08/01/2001

Question: Dear Digitalized Djinn,

Hi, I received an email copied here:

You have been selected from a list of e-mail addresses to receive a 2000 Lotus GT-V8 from Prizemasters! You must have a valid Drivers License and meet your State's insurance requirements. Please call (919) 461-0649 and ask for Rico in the prize dept.

How can I verify if this is a valid prize or a scam to collect long distance fees?

Licensed but Leery,
GT-V8 Winner

Answer: Dear GT-V8 Winner,

Thank you for contacting the E-commerce Genie. While the Center cannot tell you what action to take or otherwise give legal advice, we'd be more than happy to point you to resources on the Web that can assist you with your inquiry. Should you require legal advice, please consult an attorney. While we cannot vouch for the accuracy of information, we have located some websites that may be of interest to you.

It is always a good idea to be a little wary when offers come in the mail (or email) offering free prizes. You should also be careful about revealing any personal information (for example giving someone your driver's license number over the Internet). In addition, are you being offered a prize or the chance to win a prize? Often, marketers will enter you into a sweepstakes and then use the entry information to send you advertising and marketing materials.

A good first step in verifying offers that sound too good to be true is to check with your Attorney General's office. Here is the URL (you can also find contact information on this page.) Very often, the AG's consumer protection division will have information or complaints on file if the company offering the prize is engaged in some sort of fraudulent or deceptive practice.

Check out: http://www.wa.gov/ago/consumer/

Several sites on the web are also dedicated to reporting common scams and frauds. Here are a few:

http://www.scamwatch.com/sw_latestscams.html

http://www.fraudbureau.com/scamalert.html

http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/menu-internet.htm

A good practice is to look up the number advertised and find the person or business it is associated with. Infospace.com offers a free service to look up the subscriber of any phone number in the US or Canada. This service can be found at:

http://www.infospace.com/info/reverse.htm

Using this service reveals that the area code you listed is in North Carolina. It might be a good idea to contact the North Carolina AG's office to see if they have any warnings, and how you can contact them.

http://www.jus.state.nc.us/cpframe.htm

Best of luck in finding your answers. Please let us know if you found the information useful and don't forget to tell your friends and colleagues about the E-commerce Genie

Twice Taken

07/01/2001

Question: Hello Online Omniscience,

I need information on any existing class action suits pending against eBay...I am a new user and not well informed. I have been taken in twice, for sure, and possibly 3 times by fraudulent eBay sellers...I need help to find others, and to do something to stop these fraudulent people from being able to take advantage of us.

Fed up with Fraud,
eBay New-Bee

Answer: Dear eBay New-Bee

Thank you for your interest in the Center for Law, Commerce, & Technology. We aim to be a useful online resource for questions related to the Internet. Since we do not offer legal advice, we cannot recommend any particular action or state "what the law is." We do hope, however, to be able to point to useful information that can help in answering these types of questions. If you need legal advice, you should consult an attorney.

It would appear that your case isn't isolated. This article suggests that online auctions are the #1 consumer Internet fraud complaint subject. It also provides very good tips on how to protect yourself from falling for fraud again: http://www.cbintel.com/onlineauctionfraud.htm

Most online "auction" sites state in their terms of use that they are merely a place where buyers and sellers can interact and therefore, they do not have legal responsibility for problems that arise when a seller fails to deliver or a buyer fails to pay. Nonetheless, many online auction companies provide a range of services aimed at protecting consumers when they purchase online. Some of the things you can do include using an escrow service for payment or another type of payment service offered by the auction site. Other services offered are insurance programs, mediation/dispute resolution options, and seller ratings/feedback programs. Many auction sites also have customer departments, which may help you to try and resolve a complaint you have with another buyer or seller.

Other references:

ZDNet provides some tips on auctions: http://www.zdnet.com/zdhelp/stories/main/0,5594,2560964,00.html

eBay provides information about its liability and the potential for fraud in its user agreement, see #3 especially: http://pages.eBay.com/help/community/png-user.html

Center searches found no class action suits against eBay, but that doesn't mean there aren't any. Here are two good places on the web to search for (many) pending class action lawsuits:

http://www.notice.com/classactions/index.htm

http://www.classactionlitigation.com/contents.htm

In addition to private actions like class action lawsuits, often times government agencies can solve these types of problems. A good resource for Internet-related fraud is the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). Here's a recent article about their work with online auction fraud: http://www.emarketer.com/enews/022100_FTCauction.html

The FTC website includes a link for contacting them and for filing complaints: http://www.ftc.gov/ftc/consumer.html

Your own attorney general is also a great resource, and may be easier to contact. Most state attorney's general have a consumer protection division, which will assist consumers in resolving claims relating to fraudulent or deceptive business practices. The Wisconsin Attorney General's website has information on filing complaints as well: http://www.doj.state.wi.us/site/faq/cc.htm

Thank you for using the E-commerce Genie. Please let us know if you found the information helpful. And please tell your friends and colleagues about the E-commerce Genie!

Pyramid Power?

08/15/2001

Question: Greetings Bitwise One,

Where I can submit a site with a pyramid scheme, to find out if what they are doing is legal?

Awed by Your Answers,
Curious

Answer: Dear Curious

Thank you for contacting the E-commerce Genie. We have provided you with some links to useful websites that can help you to stay alert when you surf the web and when you consider online investment opportunities. Please remember that we cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information contained on the websites listed below. We are also unable to provide legal advice. If you need legal advice, please contact an attorney.

There are various places that you can turn to, to try and find out more information about a specific online investment company or website. You can check out a company with the state securities agency or attorney general's office not only in the state where you live, but also in the state where the company is headquartered. These government offices can tell you if the company is registered, if necessary, and if they have any consumer complaints about the company on file.

A list of state securities regulators can be found at: http://www.nasdr.com/3220.htm

If you need a phone number, call the North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA) at (202) 737-0900. In the U.S., NASAA is the national voice of the 50 state securities agencies responsible for investor protection.

A list of the state attorney generals can be found online at the National Association of Attorneys General website: http://www.naag.org/about/ag.html

The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has several good publications about investing online:

1) Internet Fraud: How to Avoid Internet Investment Scams In this publication, the SEC mentions contacting its offices as well as your state securities regulator to find out whether a certain investment company is registered and licensed. You'll also find some useful links. Check it out.

2) Read Tips for Online Investing. You can find it at http://www.sec.gov/investor/pubs/onlinetips.htm

The SEC has a federal enforcement complaint center where consumers can file complaints regarding online investment fraud. You can report online fraud at this site: http://www.sec.gov/complaint.shtml

The Federal Trade Commission also has a publication concerning online fraud: http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/edcams/onl-invest/index.html

We hope that you find this information useful - please send us a message to let us know if it was helpful. And please remember to tell your colleagues and friends about the E-commerce Genie

All Charged Up 06/01/2001

Question: Dear Wired Wizard,

Hope you can help!!! Bought a laptop from UBID.com. Product came with defective screen. I called UBID to return product within the 30-day period. They claimed I was only allowed 7 days to return product. I filed a complaint with my credit card company. Several months later they credited my account. Now three months have gone by and UBID is trying to recharge my account. My question is, what protection does a credit card purchase provide? I get the feeling First USA isn't on my side. While I am not trying to be a jerk (tried to return within what I thought their was return period), I thought chargebacks were allowed up to 4 months from purchase. Who regulates chargebacks, the state or the FTC? Does the state define what is a reasonable return policy? Seven days is a joke.

Your Fan,
Charged and Confused

Answer: Dear C&C

Thank you for contacting the E-commerce Genie. While we cannot provide you with legal advice, we can provide you with some general information and some useful reference sites. If you need legal advice, you should contact an attorney. Credit card transactions are governed by the Fair Credit Billing Act, which is a federal statute.

As a first step, you should check the terms and conditions in your credit card agreement, which govern disputes with merchants. It sounds as if you have a problem with the merchandise you received.

You should also read the terms and conditions that accompanied the laptop that you purchased as well as any buyer information that was on the Ubid website. This information is important in terms of the information you supply to your credit card company, any state or federal government agency- such as a state attorney general's office or the Federal Trade Commission.

It is unclear what type of correspondence you submitted to your credit card company initially. It is a good idea to always send them a letter, which outlines the nature of your complaint/problem with the merchant. If you do not provide an explanation, it may be harder for the credit card Company to make a determination in your case.

Consumers who are credit cardholders have greater protections in the case of billing errors - these are errors, which involve merchandise that does not arrive, that was never authorized, etc. This is different from receiving a faulty product. Here is some information excerpted from the Federal Trade Commission's website:

Errors on Your Bill. Issuers must follow rules for promptly correcting billing errors. You'll get a statement outlining these rules when you open an account and at least once a year. In fact, many issuers include a summary of these rights on your bills. If you find a mistake on your bill, you can dispute the charge and withhold payment on that amount while the charge is being investigated. The error might be a charge for the wrong amount, for something you didn't accept, or for an item that wasn't delivered as agreed. Of course, you still have to pay any part of the bill that's not in dispute, including finance and other charges.

If you decide to dispute a charge:

Write to the creditor at the address indicated on your statement for "billing inquiries." Include your name, address, account number, and a description of the error. · Send your letter soon. It must reach the creditor within 60 days after the first bill containing the error was mailed to you.

The creditor must acknowledge your complaint in writing within 30 days of receipt, unless the problem has been resolved. At the latest, the dispute must be resolved within two billing cycles, but not more than 90 days

Unauthorized Charges. If your card is used without your permission, you can be held responsible for up to $50 per card. If you report the loss before the card is used, you can't be held responsible for any unauthorized charges. If a thief uses your card before you report it missing, the most you'll owe for unauthorized charges is $50. To minimize your liability, report the loss as soon as possible. Some issuers have 24-hour toll-free telephone numbers to accept emergency information. It's a good idea to follow-up with a letter to the issuer - include your account number, the date you noticed your card missing, and the date you reported the loss.

Disputes about Merchandise or Services. You can dispute charges for unsatisfactory goods or services. To do so, you must: have made the purchase in your home state or within 100 miles of your current billing address. The charge must be for more than $50. (These limitations don't apply if the seller also is the card issuer or if a special business relationship exists between the seller and the card issuer.) and first make a good faith effort to resolve the dispute with the seller. No special procedures are required to do so. If these conditions don't apply, you may want to consider filing an action in small claims court.

Your dispute seems to follow into the third category of disputes about merchandise or services. AS you can see, the credit card issuer has more obligations with respect to billing errors than for merchandise disputes. Credit card issuer often interprets the 100-mile geographic limitation in a broad manner to protect cardholders in the even of telephone sales and Internet purchases. So a lot depends on the terms and conditions of your credit card agreement and also how your credit card issuer deals with Internet sales

Some useful websites for further information:

http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/credit/choose.htm

http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/online/payments.htm

http://www.factsource.com/srcreditcards.html

We cannot vouch for the accuracy of information on the websites listed above but hope that they are helpful.

In general, try and resolve your dispute with the merchant and send copies of your correspondence to your credit card company. If you still have a problem, contact your state attorney general's office consumer protection unit for assistance - both with the issue of the produce defect and also with the issue of the return policy. You might also consider small claims court as an option.

Thank you for contacting us. If you found our response helpful, please let us know! Please also tell your friends and colleagues about the E-commerce Genie

�

Porn by Phone

08/01/2001

Question: Dear Internet Intelligencer,

I found out that my 13-year-old son had been downloading pornography over the internet. He was able to do this without the use of a credit card. The charges went directly to my phone bill. I have a bill of over $100 for this and I want to know if I am legally responsible for paying this bill. I live in Wisconsin, if that helps.

Thank You,
Distressed by Downloads

Answer: Dear DBD:

Thanks for asking the E-commerce Genie. The Shidler Center for Law, Commerce, & Technology cannot offer legal advice (such as whether or not you are legally obligated to pay) but we would be more than happy to point you to some answers to your question. Should you need legal advice, please consult an attorney. You are not alone in these types of scams, there has been press about these types of fraud, including: http://www.s-t.com/daily/02-96/02-26-96/2sexfr.htm

Great places to go for help in situations like this are your phone company, including your long distance provider. State & federal governments are also a good source of information, we've found 4 links that are probably what you are looking for.

From the Federal Trade Commission, great info:

http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/services/cramming.htm

http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/tmarkg/intlphon.htm

http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/tmarkg/nine.htm

For Wisconsin, the Attorney General's office is a great place to call, and they can help solve problems that many others can't (that's http://www.doj.state.wi.us/).

Contact them directly at: http://www.doj.state.wi.us/ag/contact.htm

Best of Luck,

Holding The Bag?

05/01/2001

Question:Hi. I am looking for information on a WA State law titled "Holder in Due Course". I sent a personal check for an auction on eBay to a person in WA State, they cashed it at a check-cashing place. I did not get the item for the auction so I stopped payment on the check before it cleared. The check cashing place claims that I am responsible for payment and that they are protected by this law. Any information would be appreciated.

Your Fan,
Cashed and Confused

Answer: Dear C & C:

Thank you for contacting the E-commerce Genie. While we cannot provide legal advice, we can provide you with some general information and point you to some websites and resources that may help you answer your question. If you need legal advice or assistance, you need to contact an attorney.

In general, a "holder in due course" is a third party who has received a check payable to someone else and now has the right to enforce payment of the check against the person who wrote the check in the first place. In your case, the check cashing company is claiming to be the holder in due course and they want you to pay them.

The seller to whom you provided the check exchanged it at a check cashing shop. This is a generalization, but as long as the check cashing company had no knowledge of the fraud that the seller may have committed, then the check casher becomes a holder in due course --

What this phrase means in a nut shell is that as long as the check casher took the check in good faith and without any notice of the seller's possible fraud, the check cashing company is entitled to get paid on the check without worrying about any disputes that you have with the seller.

Checks are freely transferable to innocent third parties and the personal legal disputes/claims that you may have with the seller are claims on the underlying auction contract. In other words, a holder in due course does not need to worry, when he or she takes the check, that there may be problems relating to some underlying sales transaction or purchase. This is what makes checks transferable -- the fact that the person who takes a check via transfer and endorsement (as long as they take the check in exchange for value not as a gift) need not worry about legal claims attaching to the check.

Therefore, you may in fact have to pay the check cashing company and pursue your claim against the seller. In the future, you might consider some of the new payment options for auction services they allow you to make a purchase with a credit card, or an escrow service. Useful references:

The term "holder in due course" comes from the U.C.C. (Uniform Commercial Code - a series of laws adopted by most states) for a quick explanation, see:

http://www.law.cornell.edu/ucc/context.html

For the particular section of the UCC that applies: http://www.law.cornell.edu/ucc/3/3-302.html

For a website offering a "plain language" explanation of relevant parts of the UCC try: http://www.gleim.com/buslaw/LCE-CH15.html#.2

Visit http://www.gleim.com/buslaw/LCE-CH15.html#.5 and see the section titled "E. The FTC Rule Protecting Consumers from a Holder in Due Course". It should be particularly helpful. Most importantly, information from the Washington Attorney General about what you can do is at: http://www.wa.gov/ago/consumer/ To file a complaint with the office of the Washington Attorney General: http://www.wa.gov/ago/consumer/forms/regularc.html

The FTC is another good source of information, particularly when buying and selling between 2 different states. http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/online/auctions.htm

While we can't give legal advice, hopefully we have provided you with some direction to go about finding out more info. If you found the information useful, please let us know! Please also tell a friend about the E-commerce Genie.

Looking Before Leaping

09/01/2001

Question: Dear E-Commerced Entity:

I would like to see if any complaints have been lodged against a company licensed in the state of Washington? Where (on line) can I go to search if I have the license number?

Sincerely yours,
Worried in Washington

Answer: Dear Worried:

While the Genie cannot tell you what action to take or otherwise give legal advice, we'd be more than happy to point you to resources on the Web that can assist you and possibly answer your questions. Should you require legal advice, please consult an attorney. We have located some web sites that may be of interest to you. Please be aware, however, that we cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information contained on those sites.

Two online destinations for information about complaints made concerning Washington companies are:

1: The Washington State Attorney General's Consumer Protection Division has a web site that may be of interest to you.

http://www.wa.gov/ago/consumer/complain.html

The web site indicates that you can call one of the Attorney General's Consumer Resource Centers (CRCs) to find out whether complaints have been filed against a specific Washington company. The CRCs answer inquiries about businesses, send brochures and process written complaints about businesses. The staff notifies businesses of written complaints and attempts to mediate those complaints to settle disagreements between businesses and consumers. While you asked about how to do this research online, you need to contact the Attorney General's Office directly for information about a specific company.

There is a statewide toll free number: 800-551-4636 and an email address: "protect@atg.wa.gov"

If you are calling from out of state, we suggest you call the Seattle Consumer Resource Center at: 206-464-6684

You should also visit http://www.wa.gov/ago/consumer/public.html.

This page describes how to go about getting public records. Based on your question, the Genie thinks that a complaint lodged against a Washington state licensed company will be a matter of public record.

2: Another must visit site is the Better Business Bureau's search engine at http://search.bbb.org/national/search.html. It's designed to let you search by company name, email address, phone, business category or even web address.

A typical entry for a company reads like this:

----------------------------

Customer Experience Record

One complaint has been processed by the Bureau in its three-year reporting period. The complaint was resolved.

Do you want to contact one of the several local branches of the Better Business Bureau?

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This link gets you a list of the four Washington State offices.

If you have a problem with a company in another state, similar resources should be available from the state attorney general as well as from the Better Business Bureau.

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