No surprise that the scope of Internet fraud endures
It shouldn’t come as a surprise that Internet fraud complaints to the FBI rose significantly in 2008 (by more than 33 percent over the previous year according to the piece I read by Robert McMillan in InfoWorld, "FBI: Internet fraud complaints up 33 percent in 2008" .) I just wonder what the means for 2009.
With the economy in a shambles, we’re probably in store for more of the same in the coming months. Not only are criminals still looking for quick money, but now lots more are also joining the fray motivated by the need to feed families and keep roofs over their heads. Toward that end, lots of the scams are aimed at getting money quickly. One has the criminal posing as a friend (after he’s hacked into the victim’s email address book) and sending messages asking for money so that they can get out of being stranded somewhere. The urgency factor ensures that if they’re going to get away with the scam the money will arrive shortly. On the other hand, some of the criminals prefer not to rely on a kind friend’s helpfulness and instead look to scare victims by posing as government agents who will prosecute if they don’t get bank account information. Whatever the ruse, the number of these crimes continues to rise and everyone had better stay on their toes.
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