As reported by Fraud, Phishing and Financial Misdeeds, auction fraud continues to be a huge problem.
The FBI has released its 2006 Internet Crime Report, and 45% of the Internet crime complaints in 2006 were for auction fraud. You can read the Internet Crime Report here.
I have to be quite honest. I am pretty disappointed in our Internet industry. I believe there are too many folks willing to ignore this issue in the interest of making millions of dollars in profits. Consumers continue to bear the brunt of the industry neglect, and in my humble opinion, the thinking is too short-term. If these problems continue to get worse, it could permanently damage and alter the ecommerce landscape.