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Consumer enforcers clean up web in worldwide sweeps

165/04     8 October 2004

Almost half the websites targeted at children had unsuitable content

Mobile phone advertising targeting children, international scams and fraudulent advertising have been the target of two internet sweeps conducted by the International Consumer Protection and Enforcement Network (ICPEN), which is holding a conference in London being hosted by the OFT.

Sweep of mobile phone services targeted at children

Illegal and misleading mobile phone service adverts targeted at children have been studied in a cross-border internet sweep by consumer enforcement agencies from 14 ICPEN countries.

The OFT has worked alongside the consumer agencies in these other countries to map how mobile content services are marketed towards children on the internet. The services being offered on the websites ranged from logos and ring tones to pictures and games.

There were concerns that websites were not making the terms of contracts clear such as the services offered or the subscription arrangements for paying, in fact 31 per cent did not give sufficient information on the prices being charged. A further 30 per cent of the sites did not give clear information about necessary technical adjustments that would need to be made to the consumer's phone. In 22 per cent of cases no information was given on how to cancel the agreements. Another point of concern was that only six per cent of the websites displayed an age limit for those entering it and 46 per cent of the sites had unsuitable content for the assumed target group, such as violence, erotic elements, alcohol and tobacco. 

ICPEN global sweep of scams and misleading advertising

The ICPEN 'Too good to be true' sweep was conducted by 31 countries operating together to detect cross border scams and misleading and fraudulent adverts on the web. This resulted in 320 sites being closed or amended, 440 warning letters being sent to traders and five court enforceable undertakings. At present there are 307 websites still under investigation. In the UK alone eight websites were closed, 27 forced to change their sites and 40 are still under investigation.

The most common form of scams found were 'work at home schemes' which made up 27 per cent of the total, followed by 'get-rich-quick' schemes which constituted 21 per cent and pyramid or multilevel marketing schemes with 18 per cent. Other topics included lottery scams, free prize offers and educational qualification offers.

Below are some examples of the claims made by scams and adverts uncovered in the sweep:

• Business opportunity - 'make £14,000 in a week without spending a penny'
• £2000 + per month for up to 10 hour per week
• IN 24 HRS YOU COULD RAISE £198,000
• Make money from losing horses with 'Easy money from losers'

Christine Wade, Director of Consumer Regulation and Enforcement at the OFT and President of ICPEN said:

'We can see from the sweep results that working with consumer enforcement agencies in other countries has delivered real tangible results in tackling cross border scams. With this ICPEN conference we aim to build on these results towards delivering seamless global enforcement.'
 
NOTES

1. ICPEN consists of consumer enforcement agencies from 31 countries co-ordinating cross border activity and sharing best practice. It was founded in 1992 and this year the presidency is held by Christine Wade, the OFT's director of consumer regulation enforcement.

2. The sweep targeting illegal and questionable marketing of mobile phone services to children on the internet was conducted by 14 countries which were: Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Canada, Germany, Australia, Lithuania, Poland, Estonia, Hungary, Belgium, Latvia and the UK. The campaign is co-ordinated by the Norwegian Consumer Ombudsman.

3. The global 'Too good to be true' internet sweep targeting scams and misleading advertising was initially reported on 1 April 2004, see press release 61/04, although enforcement action had not taken place at the time.

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