Fraud and abuse on classified sites costs businesses nearly one per cent of their revenue - including $11 million lost in Australia alone - yet some are still reluctant to fight it.

So says editor Patrick Peterson in the introduction to a focus article in AIM Group's Classified Intelligence Report.

But he says new ways of seeking out and stopping crooks have arisen: GPS tells security firms whether the person making an order is at the place where the message originates, and experts are using their human judgement to help weed out fraudsters, and many companies could take the example of Backpage, well known for carrying "adult advertising," which reaches out to law enforcement quickly when they suspect fraud.

In Europe, some companies are fighting to prevent frauds from inflating the advertising figures with fake clicks.

Apart from the $11 million lost in Australia last year, China is struggling to keep online merchants honest.

Peterson says a bad reputation on safety and security issues can damage a site, perhaps permanently: "Certainly, Craigslist has been hurt by the 84 killings that have been linked to transactions and the thousands of rapes, robberies and rip-offs that have injured its users," he says.

The report contains reports from Russia and all over Europe, as well as a list of vendors who are helping companies fight fraud. One publisher says "when we get a fraudulent ad we just kick it off the system.

"We don't say anything to the advertiser because if you give them information about why... they will do it better the next time."

Classified Intelligence Report quotes security company McAfee that cybercrime cost the world an estimated at least $400 billion last year. "The figure this year will depend on who works the hardest to outsmart the other - the crooks or the businesses."

A 'SafeTrade' initiative launched by AIM Group this month to help classified sites protect their users is gaining significant attention. "It's free, and it could save a life," says Peterson.

Contact info@aimgroup.com