Watchdog warns of on-line fraud

The National Consumers League in the United States, claiming its Internet fraud reports tripled in the last year, yesterday unveiled new Web pages to arm consumers against cybercrooks and warned them of the 10 most-used scams.

Susan Grant, the league's Internet Fraud Watch director, said yesterday that nearly 900 complaints have been received so far this year, compared to 389 for all of 1996. They range in size from $10 to $10,000 (pounds 6.30- pounds 6,300)."Cybercrooks are in your pocketbooks with a click of the mouse," the league's president, Linda Golodny, said."It's like a giant yard sale in cyberspace ... consumers purchase a variety of items that are advertised online, but they don't always get what they bargained for." The league officials said the most common signs of fraud are extravagant promises of profits, guarantees of credit regardless of bad credit history, suspiciously low prices or prizes that require up-front payments.