Hundreds arrested in international fraud schemes

WASHINGTON- More than 565 people on three continents have been arrested over

the past year as part of an international operation targeting mass-marketing

fraud schemes, the U.S. Justice Department said on Tuesday.

The department said about 2.8 million people had fallen victim to the fraud

schemes that were carried out through the Internet, by telemarketers and through

mass mailings.

Through "Operation Global Con," police in countries across North

and South America and Europe have uncovered a number of scams and have arrested

565 people since March 1, 2005. The majority of the arrests were made in Spain,

followed by the United States, Canada and the Netherlands.

Some of the schemes included sweepstakes fraud, when a victim is told he or

she has won a large amount of money in a sweepstakes but must first pay bogus

"fees" or "taxes" on the winnings. Once the victim sends the

payment, no sweepstakes winnings are ever received.

Other scams include fake offers of "pre-approved" credit cards and

loans, offers of nonexistent investments and tax fraud schemes.

About 2.8 million victims have suffered losses totaling more than $1 billion

in relation to these fraud scams.

Officials said elderly people were often targets of the fraud because they

are perceived to be more vulnerable and willing to believe the mail or telephone

offers.