Fluent Essays

As the text and Powerpoint materials highlight, simple frauds are a significant form of crime on the internet. Confidence scams, trustworthy strangers, Nigerian 419 scams. We all think were above them but people we know and many we think should know better get caught in these all the time. Take a look here: https://www.cnn.com/2020/01/12/us/texas-school-district-email-scam-trnd/index.html (Links to an external site.)To have a school system lose $2.3 million dollars means the students suffer and the taxpayers end up paying again. Find an article about a scam that took in someone who should have known better, post a link to the article here with a brief analysis of what happened and some commentary about what could have been done to avoid being victimized. You only need to post once BUT, look ahead to the last chapter for the written assignment that spans this weeks set of chapters. yar___steinmetz06.pdf Unformatted Attachment Preview Cybercrime and Society, Third Edition © Majid Yar & Kevin F. Steinmetz Chapter 6 Cyber-frauds, scams and cons Discussion • What is the distinctive nature of fraud and how does it differ from other kinds of criminal activity? 3 Introduction • Crimes: force vs. fraud (Gottfredson & Hirschi, 1990) • Fraud: “a false representation by means of a statement or conduct made knowingly or recklessly in order to gain material advantage” (Martin, 2003, p. 211) – Applicable to both persons and materials • Inducing individuals to voluntarily part with money or goods 4 Scope and scale of online fraud • Historically, there has been a relative lack of systematic/official data – Development of agencies that report fraud and other cybercrime incidents – E.g. in the U.S. – Internet Crime Complaint Centre (IC3) – Annual publications • IC3 in 2017 received over 301,000 complaints – Estimated consumer financial loss: more than $1.4 billion (treat figures with caution) 5 Scope and scale of online fraud • Countries outside the U.S. have begun to develop reporting agencies – Australia – Australian Cybercrime Online Reporting Network (ACORN) – Canada – Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre (CAFC) – UK – Action Fraud organization 6 Scope and scale of online fraud • Growth of victimization surveys measuring online victimization – U.S. – National Crime Victimization Survey’s 2015 identity theft supplement – UK – Office for National Statistics Crime in England and Wales, and the National Fraud Indicator Report – Australia – Australian Bureau of Statistics’ (ABS) victimization surveys 7 Types of online fraud • Internet auction frauds – Online auction sites such as eBay, brining together buyers and sellers of a variety of goods – Statistics on internet auction frauds o 5.83\% of all fraud complaints received by IC3 in 2014 o $19 million in losses (~$879 in losses per complaint) Varieties of auction fraud The “fencing” of stolen goods Nondelivery of items Product inauthenticity and misrepresenta tion Shill bidding 8 Types of online fraud • Advanced fee frauds (the “Nigerian scam”) – The story of the “Spanish prisoner” – Today, we see the “Nigerian Letter Scam” (USDS, 1997, p. 4) o Usual components: • Victim contacted by mail, fax, or e-mail • A government official or their son, daughter, or widow • Individual possess a fortune in Nigerian bank accounts 9 Types of online fraud • “Trustworthy” foreigner is needed so the funds may be transferred out of a turbulent political situation in the country • The foreigner will be given a share of the money after they advance some money to transfer the funds o Losses in the thousands per victim 10 Types of online fraud • Romance scams – Exploiting the victims’ emotional investment for monies and gifts o Common strategy – feigning familial tragedies – Individuals more likely to fall for romantic scams (Whitty & Buchanan, 2012, p. 4): o High in romantic beliefs o Tendency toward idealization of romantic partners o Example of a romance scam – American soldier (Whitty, 2013) 11 Types of online fraud – Scope of loss from victims o More than 15,000 complaints in 2017 o Millions of dollars lost each year o Significant emotional distress 12 Types of online fraud • Phishing and spoofing – Intention of coercing victims to disclose passwords and other info – Phishing o Mass distribution of emails disguised as institutions such as banks, credit card companies, and e-sellers o Sophisticated e-mails that provide hyperlinks to spoofed webpages o “Spear-phishing” – more custom tailored (e.g. personal connection) 13 Types of online fraud o “Whaling” – focus on high-ranking targets (e.g. CEO) o “Smishing” – fraudulent text messages o “Vishing” – phone-based phishing – Spoofing (“page-jacking”) o 1999 – estimated 25 million pages affected o 2017 – over 50,000 unique phishing websites in June alone 14 Types of online fraud – Experienced Internet consumers are unable to ID fraudulent sites o Experimental research and the likelihood of getting duped – Why are these methods effective? Trust o Terrestrial and virtual settings 15 Types of online fraud • Investment fraud – Online fraud involving the trading of stocks and shares o Contacting potential investors through various means – Forms o Solicitation of investments in non-existent companies o “Pump-and-dump” schemes – Highest mean dollar loss to victims – $31,351 16 Types of online fraud • Social engineering – The influence, manipulation, or deception of people involved in information security o Tricking individuals to hand over sensitive information o Common saying: humans are the weakest link in security – History o Late 1880s – humans and machines can be manipulated to work more effectively o Adopted by “phone phreaks” o Social engineering – examples and influence 17 Discussion • How might characteristics of the Internet such as its global reach and online anonymity assist fraudsters and frustrate law enforcement? 18 Online fraud: Perpetrators’ advantages and criminal justice’s problems • Anonymity and disguise – False presentation of self and theft of identity – Prosecution – extremely difficult • Jurisdiction – Time consuming and costly – Cooperation of other law enforcement – Suspect operations of online websites – Transnational character of offenses 19 Online fraud: Perpetrators’ advantages and criminal justice’s problems • Under-reporting – Reasons in the reluctance of reporting victimization o Matter not worthwhile o Embarrassment o Scheme involving seemingly illegal activity o Unsure to whom to report o Lack of confidence in a successful outcome – Problems of “insider threats” 20 Online fraud: Perpetrators’ advantages and criminal justice’s problems • Cost efficiencies and savings – Considering the cost advantages o E-mail – virtually no cost o Reduction in the start-up cost for fraudulent endeavors – Advantages of storing and sending 21 Strategies for policing and combating internet frauds • Legislative innovation and harmonization – Updating national fraud legislation (e.g. rules for electronic evidence) – Harmonizing these provisions • Centralized reporting and coordination – Creation of reporting agencies • Specialized training and coordination in law enforcement – Recruitment and retention 22 Strategies for policing and combating internet frauds • Technological anti-fraud innovation – Multiple measures o Innovations in user authentication technologies o Use of web traffic analysis, visitor profiling, AI solutions, and others o Schemes for website certification and endorsement – Problems and limitations o Expensive o Resource-intensive 23 ... 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