Was on the phone last week with an Illinois lawyer whose client was scammed in the traditional way:

• con man calls,
• sends you a huge check,
• you send a smaller check in good faith,
• huge check bounces,
• con man disappears with your money.

It seems the con artist was operating from off-shore, likely Malaysia, so there's little hope of the U.S. victim recovering her money.

The only twist is a local New Orleans phone number helped the predator inspire confidence in his scam. And the number was a SkypeIn number sourced from Level 3 Communications. Skype's very convenience and affordability made this fraud more persuasive.

What's a 21st Century Telco to do?

1. Add a threat/problem reporting function to both Skype's Security Resource Center and to the Skype Security blog. Americans in trouble have been reaching out to Skype Journal because they couldn't find out how to contact a Skype office about something they considered more serious than "customer service." (22/24 Boulevard Royal, L-2449 Luxembourg is the only one listed on Skype.com.) I suspect this is true in all jurisdictions, so a bit of localization may be appropriate.

2. Offer opt-in public authentication of a SkypeIn number. So if someone Google's "020 8816 8780" (my London SkypeIn number) they can see Skype pairing it data. Skype might show an account name, perhaps the latest version of the user's Skype profile, separating user provided data from data verified by credit card or PayPal. Perhaps this becomes part of the new Skype directory services?

The latest information:

• abuse@skype.net is Skype's email address for filing a complaint. Note the .net part of the address.
• You can also submit a support request from this page, select "Abuse" as your major topic.
• Follow up on your support status.