Dear All, I am unsure if some or none of our members rec' these notifications? I have posted this before and in view of the serious content reminder do so again! Net rogues eye vulnerable prey Website private investigators offering to trace lost loved ones cash in on misery, writes Amelia Hill Sunday June 18, 2000 As soon as her three young children have gone to bed, Helen sits down at her computer and logs on to search for her oldest child: the son she gave birth to when she was 16 and has never seen. For the next three hours at least, she will comb through websites dedicated to missing people, desperately posting messages and checking her email, hoping this will be the night he contacts her. In the past year, Helen, an unemployed single mother, has spent more than £3,000 looking for the son she gave up for adoption under duress in 1981. It was money she could barely afford but, after drawing a blank with social services, she thought she saw an end to her search when a private investigator emailed her, promising to help. 'He told me it would cost just £75 plus expenses, with a no-win, no-fee guarantee,' she said. 'He told me to look at his website, which was amazingly official with tributes from people he had helped. I couldn't believe my luck. 'He was fine at the beginning, giving me a few leads but once I'd put my trust in him, he started demanding more and more money, and when I complained, he got quite aggressive and said he would stop if I wanted him to but I'd get no refund,' she said. The trade in tracing missing people is just the latest to exploit the potential of the internet, and the numbers of those offering such a service have risen exponentially, say charities who believe the net's anonymity can provide a shield for those willing to cheat and exploit families. 'There has been a dramatic increase in the past six months alone in the numbers of sites claiming to help trace missing people,' said Sophie Woodforde, head of web development at the National Missing Persons' Helpline. 'Some of these people may be genuine but many are looking to make a quick buck from families desperate enough to try anything that comes their way. 'It's going to get even worse very soon. All the domain names containing the word "missing" have been bought up, mostly in the past few months, so we're going to see hundreds more sites hoping to cash in on this lucrative area.' There are large profits to be made, even by bona fide sites. www.Missing-people.co.uk, due to open on 1 July, charges £852.60 a year simply to post a photograph alongside contact details on its noticeboard, but adds that it will pay part of this as a reward to finders. Sites that offer active searches also charge large sums: www.missinglinks.co.uk charges £425 for a 30-hour search; www.adoptionlink.co.uk asks for a non-refundable £375 plus up to £700 in expenses. 'It's horrifying,' said Colin Fairclough, director of the Family Tracing Service for the Salvation Army. 'The success rate of these people is highly questionable and impossible to verify. They charge huge amounts of money while charities such as the National Missing Person's Helpline, the Red Cross and ourselves charge nothing.' http://www.LookupUK.com , a new website offering families access to search engines and facilities for free, receives around 1,200 visitors a day. Its director, Paul Field, is so concerned about rogue sites he is trying to set up an accreditation body to control the trade. 'Unscrupulous people used to hang around the Public Record Office approaching people looking for relatives,' he said. 'Now all they have to do is log on, type in "missing persons" and long lists of desperate people appear along with their contact details.' Julie Goldsmith has been searching for her son since she was coerced into giving him up for adoption 30 years ago. When she started using the internet she received dozens of emails from people claiming to be investigators. 'These people trade on hope and fear,' she said. 'They offer a couple of names, charging up to £400 for what can be got off the electoral roll, and offer more information for more money. They've got no shame and no limits: they'll take you for everything you've got and leave you broken.' amelia.hill@observer.co.uk Regards, Mikey. Spectemur Agendo.