Outsmarting Internet Commerce Fraud 0
Internet crime is up againâand substantially, at thatâfor 2009. This, of course, should come as no surprise; it is no secret that this plague is spreading farther and deeper by the hour.
And here’s another unsurprising piece of news: at the head of the pack, same as the last many years: Internet Commerce Fraud.
The FBI Numbers
The Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), a partnership between the FBI and the National White Collar Crime Center (NWC3), recently released its 2009 figures on cybercrime complaints received and referred to law enforcement.
From January 1, 2009 through December 31, 2009, the (IC3) Web site received 336,655 complaint submissions. This was a 22.3% increase over 2008 when 275,284 complaints were received. Of the 336,655 complaints submitted to IC3, 146,663 were referred to local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies around the country for further consideration.
The vast majority of referred cases contained elements of fraud and involved a financial loss by the complainant. The total dollar loss from all referred cases was 9.7 million with a median dollar loss of 5. This is up from 4.6 million in total reported losses in 2008, and is a 111.2% increase over the 2008 figures, a sad indication that Internet crime seems to pay.
Again, the numbers showed that crimes related to Internet commerceâwhich include Non-Delivery of Merchandise/Payments, Advance Fee Fraud, Overpayment Fraud, as well as Auction Fraudâwere by far the most reported offense in 2009, comprising at they did 34.7% of all complaints (see Chart below).
The Top 10 Complaint TypesâDefinitions
FBI ScamsâScams in which it appears that the FBI is trying to get something from the complainant (e.g., money, identity information, etc.).
Advance Fee FraudâAn incident involving communications that would have people believe that to receive
