State cracks down on 38 online escrow sites
ASSOCIATED PRESS
January 16, 2005
SACRAMENTO California regulators recently ordered five more unlicensed Internet escrow companies to stop selling in the state, bringing the number of shutdown orders to 38 since May.
The companies offer to hold funds in a trust account until a promised action or delivery of goods or services has been completed.
Just one Internet-based escrow company is among the 650 independent escrow companies licensed in California.
The problem is severe enough that the department formed an Escrow Fraud Task Force last month along with the Federal Trade Commission, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Southern California High Tech Task Force, Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, and the Escrow Institute of California.
[delete to end]
