What are the various types of fraud being engaged in over the Internet? What role does economic victimization play in e-commerce? What should consumers watch out for when engaging in e-commerce?

Question

What are some of the protections potential victims can employ to reduce their chances of becoming victims of economic crimes? (see pages 217-220)

Answer 1

Various types of internet fraud are auction fraud, counterfeit cashier's check, debt elimination, employment/business opportunity, lotteries, Nigerian letter (419), phishing/spoofing, Ponzi/Pyramid and spam. E-commerce has provided a new, expansive arena for economic victimization. U.S. consumers lodged over 200,000 complaints of online fraud in 2004, a 66 percent increase from 2003 (National White Collar Crime Center, 2005).

Internet frauds can be found intertwined with legitimate Internet commerce. Increasingly, emails are becoming a growing method of contact used by Internet fraud perpetrators. In 2004, 22 percent of Internet fraud offenders initiated contact with the victim through email, a 340 percent increase from 2003 . The average loss to victims of Internet fraud was $895 in 2004, a 70 percent increase from 2003 (National Fraud Information Center, 2005). The most common fraud occurs when using Internet auction sites. The fraud that causes the most dollar loss per incident is check fraud, and the type of fraud that is least likely to cost victims money is computer fraud.

The Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) suggests the following steps be taken to ensure you protect your personal information when using the Internet:

o Ensure websites are secure prior to submitting your credit card number.
o Do your homework to ensure the business or website is legitimate.
o Attempt to obtain a physical address, rather than a P.O. Box or mail dro