Semalt Expert – Things You Must Know About Internet Fraud
Internet fraud refers to a crime in which, the executor designs a scheme through the application of one or more parameters with an aim of depriving an individual property or any other element of interest by a fake representation of an issue that is true and thus, providing misguiding data.
With the increased reliance on the internet by consumers and business owners as a medium to foster transactions: prohibited activities using the same channel is on the rise. In most cases, internet enabled fraudulent activities are difficult to trace and sue, and they are capital intensive to address.
Jason Adler, the expert from Semalt Digital Services, has tailored some compelling facts about online fraud in order to help you be ready for the attacks.
From web hacking to malware issues, the criticality of internet crime started to gain concern in the early 2000s. In some situations, the issue was perceived as an intervention of addressing the issue rather than the increasing significance of the internet in everyday endeavors. The overreliance of businesses on email and the rampant increase in the number of web users have increased financial stakes. For instance, a virus that broke in 1999 resulted in damages amounting to $80.
Securities fraud is an activity where the perpetrators offer huge investment opportunities or schemes that are meant to destabilize the market with an intent of making huge profits.
Identity fraud occurs when the attacker obtains data without the knowledge of the owner and uses the data for personal benefits specifically, financial benefits.
In 2001, an Internet fraud report by IFCC depicted that web auction fraud was the most perpetuated offense accounting for 43 percent of the complaints. In addition to the aforementioned types of crime, significant fraud complaints in the scope of confidence fraud, credit card fraud, and merchandise payment.
In 2003, an Internet report by IFCC indicated that 50 percent of the web fraudsters were residents of Texas, California, Florida, New York and Illinois. The report also depicted how difficult it was to track down the perpetrators of these crimes.
According to a department in the US, that deals with Internet frauds the following are the current examples of illegal activity executed through the web:
Market manipulation and security fraud are two instances demonstrated by Los Angeles. In the first scenario of market manipulation, the offenders were able to cash out earnings from selling shares whose worth increased from $8 to $ 15 within a span of 45 minutes.
In another situation, over 100 U.S military personnel were victims of identity theft. The perpetrators acquired the social security numbers and the names of these military officers from the internet and subsequently, used these identities to apply for credit cards.
In 1999, the FBI was involved significantly in a popular search for the designer of a computer virus that relied on the email as a channel to disseminate pornographic materials. Within a couple of days, 19 percent of the US companies and 1.5 million gadgets were victims of this email.
Hackers also initiated attacks on the United States government systems. Within a couple of years, the attackers were in a position to infect computers owned by Pentagon and other authorities.