GMA: Kids Buy Cigarettes Online
March 6 -- Kids who are barred from buying cigarettes at local stores have a new way to get ahold of tobacco, and all it takes is a click of a mouse.
For years, law enforcement officers around the nation have used teens as bait in undercover sting operations to nail retail establishments for selling cigarettes to people under 18. And the stings worked: More than 70 percent of all stores nationwide now comply with the laws and ask for identification.
But now there is a new way for kids to buy cigarettes, with no ID required, as ABCNEWS' Good Morning America has discovered.
In Salt Lake City, children ranging in age from 10 to 17 were able to buy cigarettes online and have them shipped directly to their homes.
Laura Jacobsen, who does not smoke, was one of those who ordered cigarettes over the Internet. She and the other children were working with investigators from the Utah Attorney General's Office.
It was part of a sting operation to see if online retailers would sell to minors. And they did: More than 50 percent of the children's orders were filled.
"I got Virginia Lights and I'm 14," Jacobsen said. "I just ordered them over the Internet."
No one asked her age or asked her to verify her identify, she said.
Across the nation, states and cities are running similar stings.
Eight-year-old Nikko was just one of the children who bought cigarettes online as part of a sting run by the New York City Department of Consumer Affairs. GMA's consumer correspondent, Greg Hunter, watched the boy order three cartons of Kool mild cigarettes. The underage purchaser said he felt worried.
"I don't want other kids to do that, unless they are supervised," Nikko said.
Delivered to Their Doorsteps
According to U.S. health statistics, 8,000 children try cigarettes every day, and 3,000 become addicted to cigarettes every day.
No one knows how many children are actually ordering cigarettes online, but teens make up the largest group of new smokers. Some officials are concerned that the Internet could become an easy source for cigarettes.
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