Good old Capitol Hill at it again (via stock photography)
Since 2006, Congress granted the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) the authority to collaborate with foreign governments in order to crack down on international scams and fraud that target US consumers. On December 4th, President Obama signed an extension of this law for another 8 years (2020).
During the four years that the “Safe Web Act” has been practiced, over 100 investigations were conducted. However, the FTC has not disclosed how many cases were resolved. This, in part, may be due to a clause in the Safe Web Act that allows them to keep any information received from foreign governments private, if the cooperating party wants confidentiality.
This legislature is framed as a protective measure against online scams, but it does go on to say the FTC can investigate anything that will deter consumers from shopping online. Mary Bono Mack, who served in the House of Reps for 14 years until she lost reelection this year said, “With nearly 1.5 billion credit cards in use in the United States, nearly everyone in America has a stake in making certain that the FTC has the powers it needs to fight online fraud.” She was one of the leading co-sponsors of the Safe Web Act in 2006. All their efforts didn't stop one my credit card number from being stolen this past weekend.
Not only email scams or phony websites, but spyware, viruses and hacks against banks, credit card companies, individual stores etc, can be investigated by the FTC. If they find that the scam is abroad, they have the authority to collaborate with the Department of Justice and to find and exchange information with foreign jurisdictions to crack down on the person(s) responsible.
As Ms. Mack says, it is important that every consumer feels protected. On Black Friday, 2012, US consumers spent a record $1.042 billion. This was followed up by another record of $1.47 billion on Cyber Monday. Looks like US consumers are not fazed by online fraud.
Cabe