Traders Trade

The form, which is hosted on a Polish website, asks for email addresses, credit card details and PayPal passwords and asks the recipient to fax them to a US toll free number, starting with the code 1 800.

"It's possible that some people who know that they need to be careful about entering their confidential information on a bogus website may think that completing and faxing back such a form is somehow safer," said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at Sophos.

"Interestingly the phishing gang may have made a huge blunder by including the fax number in their scam. PayPal and the authorities are sure to follow that lead when investigating this matter further."

The web has become a base for organized criminals who use the open nature of the web and e-mail systems to steal, or phish for, consumer account information while posing as legitimate retailers and banks, mimicking well-known web sites like eBay.com. They sell the information they gather to other criminals or use it themselves to make fraudulent transactions. Though top of mind recently among many retailers and fraud-fighters, e-mail phishing is only one of several new-age forms of cybercrime. Criminals are also finding ways to plant malicious software onto web sites and computers to capture information, including keystrokes that enter passwords, for use in future fraudulent transactions. Ken Leonard, CEO of ScanAlert Inc., a company that tests web sites for network holes that can let hackers steal information, says that 30% of his clients have network vulnerabilities when they first sign up for service. "The hackers are very busy," he says.

Before it started using the IDology system, Ice.com had to cancel more than 5% of high-risk orders, but it has since cut that to under 1% with zero chargebacks, Schaff says. "In the past, we had no way of knowing if they were legitimate," he says. But with IDology?s web-based IDlive identity-checking system, the retailer is now able to verify the identity of nearly all orders, he says. And with only a small handful that still need further checking, Ice.com staff can personally contact customers for verification, he adds.

The sales can be lucrative. Fossilized skulls of prehistoric animals sell can sell for thousands of dollars on eBay. In June, a saber-toothed cat skull sold for $32,312 at a Bonhams & Butterfields Natural History auction.

One of Beasley's duties is to keep up with the market price of fossils. That way when poachers are convicted, she can give prosecutors an idea of how much restitution offenders should pay, she said.

The three who were convicted in the 2003 case were ordered to pay $2,000 each. One of them, Tom Neumeyer of Sheboygan, Wis., a technical college welding teacher, declined to give a reason for wanting the dinosaur bones but said he has learned a lesson.

"I will never do this illegally again, I can tell you that," he said. "This has been the worst experience of my life."

Joe Bumb, 50, George Bumb's nephew, was one of the lucky entrepreneurs who got a boost from the flea market. His store has a revenue of about $100,000 each month, although in recent years business has become more difficult. He sells mostly jewelry these days but finds that people don't believe they're getting a bargain unless they check it out on the Internet. BR>
"Eventually I won't need a store or rather the store won't help much anymore," Bumb said. "I will be doing this from my garage with a computer."

The Internet side of his business is thriving, with revenue of $20,000 a month and growing.

The customers who do show up in person are far more sophisticated than in years past, said Julie Campbell, 46, manager of the Bellwood Flea Market in Richmond, Va.

"The ones that come into flea markets, if there's something in particular they like - let's say Spider-Man lunch boxes - they look it up in books and eBay before coming so they know the prices," Campbell said. Same for the vendors selling them. While it's possible to occasionally find a bargain, she added, it's less likely nowadays that someone will find a 50-cent gold necklace or a first-edition Beatles record for $5, as some of her acquaintances reported they did in the past."

The goods included a piece of paper with Aniston's name and phone number written in lipstick and a photo of the pair hugging when they first met.

"I have voluntarily canceled the eBay auction upon receiving word from one of Jennifer's representatives that she didn't want me conducting the auction," Baroni said in a statement to The Associated Press on Friday. "I have nothing but fond memories of Jennifer as a friend and only wish her well."

"Any such postings on eBay purporting to be from me were not, in fact, from me," said Baroni.