More Ticket Fraud

Have to be careful when buying tickets to South Africa 2010. The cyberspace cockroaches have hit upon internet sales of non-existent World Cup tickets as a gold mine for scamming.

The latest? Australia has uncovered at least one bogus ticket operation, as this story outlines.

The story notes that Australian watchdogs found the site, which offers tickets in bad English -- which ought to be your first warning sign. If your site doesn't do grammar, it probably does do fraud.

All that's missing is a simulated Nigerian businessman named Prince Innocent asking you to hold a couple of million dollars for him after you send $10,000 to him in Lagos, via cashier's check, to demonstrate your good will.

This really is a very simple process. If you are not on the FIFA.com site, you're taking a risk.

Yes, there will be an after-market for tickets. But consumers need to be very careful and follow all the common sense warnings. Be very stingy with your credit card information. If it seems too good to be true, it certainly is.

Fraudulent predators take advantage of enthusiastic consumers. And who is more enthusiastic than soccer fans who want to be in South Africa for the big event?