Recognizing and Avoiding Internet Fraud Article By: Fred Kahn*
In fiscal year 2008, The Internet Fraud Complaint Center, a multi-governmental agency task force, reported that there were only 275,000 cases of internet fraud reported to them with an average economic loss of $931.00. That works out to be a total of 250 million dollars lost to internet fraud. If that was all the fraud being perpetrated on the internet, then the government is probably spending more money to combat internet fraud then is being lost. Obviously there is a lot more fraud occurring then is being reported and it is also obvious that there many more attempts at fraud that do not succeed. Everyone who uses the internet sees the e-mails and pop-up ads that tout free offers and get-rich quick schemes every time the get on the internet. I have heard rumors that estimate the amount of spam to be well over fifty percent of all the traffic on the internet. Most people that I know receive more spam e-mail than solicited e-mail. Fortunately most people have become educated enough of about these acts and are not falling victim to these attempts.
However, if you think that you are not a victim of fraud, let me remind you that fraud affects us all, directly or indirectly. First of all, it requires some of our tax money to help the government make people aware of it investigate it and fight it in the courts. Secondly, there is the effect it has on the internet, slowing it down and wasting our time sifting through the junk and deleting it from our computers. Last, but not least, when people or businesses lose money, are the victims of credit card fraud or identity theft, some of that lost revenue gets passed on to you, the consumer.
Whether it is due to greed, laziness or whatever, people who commit these frauds are evil. What keeps them coming back, year after year, is the small but steady degree of success which they enjoy. If no one ever fell prey to their schemes they would have stopped by now. How can you recognize when you are being scammed, what can you do to ensure that you do not fall into their trap and what can you do if you do become a victim of fraud?
The first line of defense against fraud is to never open any e-mails from someone you don’t know. Never open any e-mails that do not have a subject line and never open any e-mails addressed to you but where your name is misspelled. What if the e-mail is from some person or company that you do recognize but it turns out to be of a questionable nature? Delete it immediately and NEVER, EVER CLICK ON A LINK IN AN E-MAIL unless you already know for certain where it will take you and that the certain can be trusted with full certainty. A spoof e-mail and can take you to a website that looks familiar but which is designed to trick you into giving away your personal and financial information. A familiar example is the e-mail that looks like it is coming from your bank account or credit card. It says that there is some problem with the information about your account and would you please click on the link provided which will take you to the banks website where you can re-enter your information. Links can be created that say anything and which can link to anywhere.
Remember, it is YOUR responsibility to act responsibly.
What do you do, if after all you have learned, you do become the victim of internet fraud? Who can you turn to for help? First of all if the fraud or scam involves your financial information contact the financial institution immediately. Whether it is your bank, Credit Card Company, etc, contact them, day or night and tell them you believe that you may have been the victim of some fraud and they will put you through to their security division. Then, report it to one of the government agencies listed at the end of this article. Don’t get lazy or shy; it is very important that you report it. A good Quote from Edmund Burke: “All That Is Necessary For Evil To Triumph Is for Good Men To Do Nothing”. He also went on to say “Nobody makes a greater mistake than he who does nothing because he could only do a little”. One of the reasons that internet fraud continues to thrive is that people do not bother to report it.
If the fraud occurs on one of the internet auction websites, report it to the websites security section. For example, if the fraud occurred on eBay, go to the ebay security and resolution center, http://pages.ebay.com/securitycenter/index.html and click on the link appropriate to your problem. eBay does a great job of handling Phishing, spoofing and other types of fraud. They work closely with law enforcement agencies to deter and prosecute fraud. Their website has a great deal of good information about avoiding auction scams.