Blatt

Crackdown on immigrant visa lottery websites
Washington
October 10, 2003


The US Federal Trade Commission has accused the operators of eight
websites of scamming foreigners trying to enter a lottery for about
50,000 immigrant visas to the United States.

The agency contended the operators misled consumers about the services
the sites provided and suggested associations with the federal
government that were nonexistent.

"These bogus operators not only picked consumers' pockets, they may
have nixed their victims' only opportunity to enter this year's
diversity visa lottery," Howard Beales, director of the FTC's Bureau
of Consumer Protection, said yesterday.

The commission said it had filed a civil complaint in federal court
against John Romano and Hoda Nofal of Global Web Solutions Inc. in
Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The court issued a temporary restraining
order prohibiting the defendants from making any misrepresentations on
their websites and freezing their assets.

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article at
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/20...676131088.html