Title: RE: Warning: Trolling for Dollars, Scammers hard at work {was: forged Failure Notice}
>Original Message-----
>From: Norman Bauman
>They could set up a honey pot by replying to the message with an artificial account. If the spammer actually gets any money, they could track the transaction down.
>Money transfers have a better audit trail than web pages.
>One of the ISPs (Earthlink?) tracked down and prosecuted a spammer in upstate New York, which was difficult but not impossible. So PayPal should have a good chance >of finding the spammer, I would conclude.
>Norman
Back in the good ole' days, credit card company's cost/benefit analysis determined that chasing down fraudulent card users was more expensive than ignoring them. So they did. If you didn't get too greedy (or too stupid) you could make a decent living that way. But now, with identity theft being such a growth industry, the cost/benefit has shifted and you really have to keep on your toes if you want to pursue that career. It's likely that this newer type of fraud has not yet become enough trouble to prompt PayPal (or eBay, or MicroSquish, etc.) to put much effort into chasing down the culprits. I think it's difficult for ordinary people to grasp how differently corporations interpret the concept of "doing the right thing". To them, "right" will always mean "efficient".
Brian H.