Consumer Internet Fraud

Résumé du document

Fraud and deceptions have existed in every society since time immemorial. These characteristics are an inherent motivation among some people to take advantage of others in economic transactions. There are instances of fraud and deception published in classified advertisements in newspaper, through the mail, on television or via telemarketing. These scams are now conducted on the Internet as well. Since the 1990s, cyberspace has made it easier and cheaper to scam consumers through unsolicited e-mails and proliferation of fake websites. In a way, consumers are now being swamped with the old tricks on a new medium as con artists have adapted yesteryear's scams and adapted them to today's technology. We will begin by examining the qualifications for a consumer internet fraud and its characteristics. Next we will overview the 10 major consumers of Internet Fraud. This will be followed by some guidelines about how to avoid fraud or how to fight against them when a consumer has been scammed.

Extraits

[...] Don't Judge by Initial Appearances. Just because something appears on the Internet, it doesn't mean it's true (The ready availability of software allows anyone to set up a professional-looking Web site). Be Careful About Giving Out Valuable Personal Data Online. When consumers see e-mail messages from someone they don't know that ask for personal data they shouldn't send the data without knowing more about who's asking. (Criminals have been known to send messages in which they pretend to be a systems administrator). [...]

[...] Consequently the losses are huge and become more and more bigger every year. The total loss reported by the National Consumer League (NCL) for the National Internet Fraud Watch Information Center in 2005 was $13,863,003, significantly higher than the $5,787,170 reportly lost in 2004. The average loss in 2005 was $1,917, also much higher than the $895 average loss in 2004. NCL received also really more complaints in 2005: 12,315 compared to 10,794 in 2004, but that does not account for the more than doubling of total loss. [...]

[...] Wells (January 2004). The Computer and Internet Fraud Manual by Joseph T Wells. Association of Certified Fraud Examiners. Better Business Bureau On-line (BBBonline). http://www.bbbonline.org/ Federal Trade Comission (FTC). http://www.ftc.gov/ftc/consumer.htm Internet claims complaint center (IC3). http://www.ic3.gov/ National Internet Fraud Watch Information Center. http://www.fraud.org/2005_Internet_Fraud_Report.pdf E. Thomas Garman (2003). Consumer Economic Issues in America. [...]

[...] This allows then to set up a statistic about the major scams that happened every year which is also a way to prevent consumers (the biggest fraud is usually on Auction Sales). The best advice given by the FTC not to being scammed is to consider that if it's too good to be true, it's certainly true. If government and consumers are not vigilant, cyber-crime will turn the internet into the Wild West of the 21th Century. References Edward Johnson and Elisabeth Leamy (2004). The Savy Consumer (How to Avoid Scams and Ripoffs That Cost You Time and Money). Capital books. Joseph T. [...]

[...] Counterfeit goods include copied software, replica name brand items. Shill bidding is intentional fake bidding by the seller to drive up the price of his/her own item that is up for bid General merchandises (30 $ 2,528). This concern sales when goods are never delivered, misrepresented or that also involve fee stacking or counterfeit goods The Nigerian scam, also known as 419 average; $ 6,937). The 419 scam combines the threat of impersonation fraud with a variation of an advance fee scheme. [...]