Protecting Yourself From Internet Fraud
Learn how to avoid internet fraud and how this federal offense is handled by the FBI in their investigative report.Internet Fraud Grows In The Digital Age
In the wired world internet fraud has become a "system norm" as many media report now confirm.
* Increase In Online Felons. The reported rise in computer-based internet fraud corresponds, statistically, with the increased use and access of the internet by people around the world, looking to buy or sell.
By contrast, publishing sites providing magazine-style content remain a sheltered web site segment, impervious to internet fraud, since the publisher or the academic or the government agency has no service or product to "sell".
* Federal Agency Enforcement. The FBI internet fraud division engages teams of forensic technologists who job is to investigate auction sites, catalogue complaints related to internet fraud or to credit card fraud.
* Internet Compaint Center Resources. Most internet fraud complaint centers attest the rule that "where money exchanges hands, internet fraud can occur". What are the precautions you can take to avoid becoming a victim of internet fraud? Internet fraud statistics point overwhelmingly to money transactions, requiring that customer data and money be exchanged.
As the buyer in an internet transaction, you provide credit card information, shipping address, name, and potentially other data which the internet fraud criminal can access and then exploit to her or his own ends.
* Consumer Tip - Know The Seller Or The Brand Merchandise. So, in order to avoid potential internet fraud, you should first know something about the seller. Major brand names that are trusted to have secure online transaction systems to delimit internet fraud could include popular firms such as LL Bean, REI, Sears, JC Penney, and Wal Mart in personal and home products segments or Citibank, Chase, Wells Fargo or Bank of America or Smith Barney in financial services segments.
If the seller is small, privately controlled, and unknown then "buyer beware" should be your guide to minimize the possibility of internet fraud.
* Consumer Tip - Avoid Non-Secure Online Payment Systems. FBI internet fraud statistics show that the crime occurs in the absence of un-secured transaction systems by the seller. Internet fraud reports show that properly secured sites such as Sears post clearly that their site is secure, thus protecting customers as well as Sears from liabilities arising from attempted internet fraud such as by an employee or 3rd party hacker.
* Cases Of Identity Theft Online. In the event of identity theft, internet fraud can be easily carried out since the transaction of itself is legitimate. The internet fraud per se lies in the fact that the identity theft victim's personal data has been fraudulently used in order to "steal" merchandise or obtain cash and credit. A seller's web site cannot stop 3 rd party internet fraud, especially where the "buyer" (which is "you" as falsely represented by the identity theft criminal) checks out in terms of credit worthiness.
* Keeping Track Of All Your Financial Accounts. Internet fraud complaint center professionals can assist you in the event that you suspect that fraud has occurred. In order to lessen the probability of internet fraud, you need to maintain a current weekly understanding of all your financial accounts in order to thwart any suspicious activity before it escalates into major financial liabilities. Once a criminal takes over your accounts or credit lines, he can rapidly execute a number of internet fraud purchases before "escaping" into a virtual hiding place somewhere else on the internet.
* Mis-Use Of Intellectual Property - Copyrights, Trademarks. A less appreciated category of internet fraud includes protections or controls associated with intellectual property and trademark rights. In the event that internet fraud results in proprietary content from a site being copied or used without permission, then internet fraud litigation specialists are called in to track down the perpetrators.
* What To Do If Fraud Strikes You. If you believe that you've become a victim of internet fraud, then you should immediately contact the internet fraud complaint center associated with your internet provider or your credit card provider. Next, contact all creditor institutions and instruct them to cease and desist in any more credit authorizations because of suspected identity fraud or other illegal activity by unknown persons.
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