MILWAUKEE _ A suburban Milwaukee couple's run-in last week with a Florida-based moving company is the latest in a growing battle by government agencies and consumer watchdogs against strong-arm tactics by such companies, many of them owned and operated by Israeli nationals.

Consumer advocates charge that a network of such companies routinely engages in questionable, if not illegal, business practices and they frequently change their business name when complaints start to pile up.

They also tend to hire young Israeli men just out of the military who come here to make quick money, often without proper work visas, before moving on to vacation in more exotic foreign locales.

Danny Biran, consul at the Israeli Embassy in Washington, D.C., said it's very common for young Israeli men to come to the United States after fulfilling their three-year military commitment and before entering college.

"There are a lot of Israeli guys after they finish their duty in the army they want to go to Australia, Japan, Thailand, Greece and the U.S.," he said. "They want to see the world."

But to do that they need money, and the best place to do that is in the United States, even if it means working illegally, Biran said.

"They can make a lot of money in a short time in the U.S. and then they can go visit Latin America or someplace where the dollar goes farther," Biran said.

It's only natural that many of the young Israelis find work with East Coast moving companies, many of which are owned by Israeli immigrants and nationals.

A September 1997 Jerusalem Post story estimated that more than half of the New York City area's 250-some moving companies were owned by Israeli entrepreneurs, many of whom immigrated to the U.S. in the mid- to late 1980s.

"Several of the Israeli moving companies have given the industry a bad name, using cheap prices and low-balling techniques," muscling out Irish and Italians who formerly dominated the business, the story says.

The highly competitive atmosphere spawned "hellish tales of customers locked in moving trucks, warehouses stuffed with consumers' missing furniture, couches ripped and gouged, and hutzpadik tip requests," the Post reported.

Another Jerusalem Post story in January said the trip to the U.S. "has become practically a rite of passage for Israeli youth: the post-army trip to some exotic locale, often combined with a stint in the United States to make quick money _ illegally."

After Sept. 11, more than 60 Israelis, many of whom were working for moving companies, were deported for visa violations.

For instance, five college students from Israel working illegally for Urban Moving Systems, a New York City company, were deported. On Sept. 14, that company closed its doors and its owner went back to Israel, abandoning a collection of New Jersey warehouses where people's goods were stored. The State of New Jersey had to get involved to return items to people.

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"Israelis are to moving as Japanese are to cars," said Tommy Chanz, a spokesman for Advanced Moving Systems in Sunrise, Fla.

His company employed the two men who showed up at Paul and Bridget Fletcher's suburban Milwaukee doorstep this week, demanding about $1,700 before they would unload the Fletchers' furniture from their truck.

The Fletchers had contracted with the company a month earlier to bring their furniture from a Maine warehouse and already had paid the company $1,500. The original estimate was $1,725.

When the Fletchers refused to pay the extra money, the two men drove off and were soon apprehended by police in the couple's hometown of Thiensville, Wis.

Criminal charges weren't filed, but the two men are in the Ozaukee County Jail, being held on warrants from the Immigration and Naturalization Service and North Carolina charging them with robbing and assaulting a resident there when he refused to pay extra money to have his furniture unloaded.

One of the men arrested, Oshri Cohen, 30, is an Israeli national, as are Chanz and Advanced Moving's owner, Zion Rokah.

James Balderrama, who operates a Web site for victims of illicit movers, said a network of up to 100 companies owned by Israeli nationals is involved.

"These thieves, these crooks, take everything you own and hold it hostage. And it's not just about your TV, tables and furniture. It's your baby pictures and heirlooms.

"Everything I own was taken from me," Balderrama said. "I'm not emotionally attached to my couch, but I am to my daughter's baby pictures."

What happened to the Fletchers was "a classic moving scam," said Glen Lloyd, a spokesman with the state Bureau of Trade and Consumer Protection.

"They low-ball you to get your business, then after they have your business, they say it's going to weigh more than previously thought. Then they have you over a barrel, and when you object, they say you're not going to get your stuff," Lloyd said.

People often pay anyway because they already are overwhelmed by the stress of the move, Lloyd and others said.

"And sometimes these movers are very big people and can be very physically intimidating," he said.

Also protecting such moving companies is the fact that local law enforcement won't usually get involved, said Balderrama. He said he started his Internet site, http://www.movingadvocateteam.com, after he was ripped off by a mover.

Debbie Gebhardt, chief of staff for U.S. Rep. Tom Petri, R-Wis., said the reaction in her office and people in the U.S. Department of Transportation was "wow" when they heard about movers being apprehended by the Thiensville police and about the North Carolina charges.

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Legislation to strengthen enforcement of interstate trucking laws against bullying movers is being developed in the House Transportation Committee, of which Petri is a member. Gebhardt is hopeful that it will reach Congress this session.

One aspect of the legislation, she said, might be to require background checks of drivers, possibly weeding out "some of the worker bees," such as young Israelis violating their visas.

Another possible provision, she said, might empower states with enforcing federal interstate regulations.

"For instance, federal regulations say you can only charge 10 percent more than the estimate. But first you have to release the goods and then argue about the money," Gebhardt said.

"What these men did to the couple in Thiensville, charging them double the estimate, violated federal law."

But since 1995, when the Interstate Commerce Commission was abolished, the trucking industry has been regulated by what officials say is an understaffed U.S. Department of Transportation.

And since the terrorist attacks Sept. 11, enforcing regulations governing moving companies has taken a back seat to airport security and other concerns, said David Barnes, a spokesman for the Office of Inspector General, the DOT's enforcement arm.

"But there is an increasing concern because people are getting ripped off," he said.

So far this year, Barnes' office _ in cooperation with the FBI, INS and local law enforcement _ has shut down eight moving companies in New York and another in San Jose, Calif. Most of the men involved were Israeli immigrants or nationals.

Consumer advocates also are hailing landmark legislation recently passed in Florida, which would make it a felony for a mover to hold a consumer's goods hostage while demanding a higher price than was quoted. It also requires all bids to be put in writing.

The measure is waiting for Gov. Jeb Bush's signature.

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To protect themselves from unscrupulous movers, Elmer Prenzlow, of the Wisconsin Bureau of Trade and Consumer Protection, suggested that consumers:

_Get a binding estimate, signed by both the consumer and the moving company.

_Check with the Better Business Bureau and with a consumer protection agency in the state where the mover is located.