Fighting internet auction fraud: An assessment and proposal

Abstract

Online auctions constitute one of the most successful Internet business models. However, auction fraud has become far and away the largest component of all Internet fraud, posing a threat to the model's future. Traditional government organizations such as the Federal Trade Commission and the Secret Service in the US, as well as new agencies such as Internet Fraud Watch and the Internet Fraud Complaint Center, have joined auction businesses in trying to develop new mechanisms to fight this problem. We propose empowering auction communities to integrate their work with that of governments and auction institutions. Our methodology leverages news reports and auction transactions.