Hunting down fraudsters...

Interesting article from CNN Money on the increasing numbers of fake or knock off products being sold on line and how modern technology is being used to hunt some of them down without human manpower being needed:

Though official numbers are scarce, online protection company MarkMonitor says a record $119 billion in knockoff goods will be sold on the Web in 2007, up from $84 billion last year - everything from counterfeit watches to fraudulent pharmaceuticals. eBay (Charts) has ballooned into a city-size megastore that only an army of security guards could monitor for shady merchants. New online services make it simple and cheap for any site to accept credit card or bank payments, and ads on Google (Charts) can lure bargain-hunting shoppers within hours.

But just as fake goods are enjoying a heyday online, so are virtual sleuths. New tech firms are arming brand holders with a smart solution: Web-crawling software that detects fraud and sends warnings to apparent violators, often with minimal human action.

Another reason you should always becareful before you purchase anything online to make sure the company is truly a valid one. A few moments of searching could end up saving you money in the end, especially if your knockoff is of very poor quality as most are.