The term "Internet fraud" generally refers to any type of fraud scheme that uses one or more online services - such as chat rooms, e-mail, message boards, or Web sites - to present fraudulent solicitations to prospective victims, to conduct fraudulent transactions, or to transmit the proceeds of fraud to financial institutions or to others connected with the scheme.

Overview

Internet fraud is committed in several ways. The FBI and police agencies worldwide have people assigned to combat this type of fraud; according to figures from the FBI, U.S. companies' losses due to Internet fraud in 2003 surpassed US$500 million. In some cases, fictitious merchants advertise goods for very low prices and never deliver. However, that type of fraud is minuscule compared to criminals using stolen credit card information to buy goods and services. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is a federal criminal investigative, intelligence agency, and the primary investigative arm of the United States Department of Justice (DOJ). ... Year 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The United States dollar is the official currency of the United States. ... For literary uses see Fiction For Legal uses see legal fiction Fictitious defendants Feigned action Ejectment - an action to recover land John Doe - commonly named as a fictitious defendant. ... For other uses, see Crime (disambiguation). ... This article is about the payment system. ...

The Internet serves as an excellent tool for investors, allowing them to easily and inexpensively research investment opportunities. But the Internet is also an excellent tool for fraudsters.

Geographic targets

Europe, the U.S, and some Asia Pacific countries like Singapore and Australia are the leading targets of this type of fraud.

Geographic sources

Whilst internet fraud is widespread, companies providing fraud detection services report higher than normal levels of fraudulent activity from countries such as Venezuela, Ukraine, Indonesia, Yugoslavia, Lithuania, Egypt, Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey, Russia, Pakistan, Malaysia, and Israel. Countries with low reported levels of internet fraud include Austria, New Zealand, Taiwan, Norway, Spain, Japan, Switzerland, South Africa, Hong Kong, the UK, France, and Australia. ^[1]

Popular products

Fraudsters seem to prefer small and valuable products, such as: watches, jewelry, laptops, ink cartridges, digital cameras, and camcorders. These items are usually commodities that are easily sellable and have a broad range of appeal. However, fraud in hosted marketplaces such as Ebay covers a broad range of products from cellular phones to desktop computers. The craft has continually evolved in sophistication. In some instances, a picture of the product is sent in place of the actual product. Other times, products are outright never sent after the bill is charged to credit card accounts. Victims are left to deal with credit card companies for chargebacks. A young waif steals a pair of boots Stealing redirects here. ... This page is about timekeeping devices. ... Jewelry (the American spelling; spelled jewellery in Commonwealth English) consists of ornamental devices worn by persons, typically made with gems and precious metals. ... For the band, see Laptop (band). ... Look up digital camera in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... 8mm Camcorder mini-DV Camcorder A camcorder is a portable electronic device (generally a digital camera) for recording images and audio onto a storage device. ...

Some Fraudsters market intangibles such as software downloads or documentation. Pricing on such items is low in order to encourage a purchase perceived by the consumer as low risk (in accordance with low cost.) Software download scams are frequently targeted at high-population buying communities such as online gaming worlds. A young waif steals a pair of boots Stealing redirects here. ...

Identity theft schemes

Stolen credit cards

Most Internet fraud is done through the use of stolen credit card information which is obtained in many ways, the simplest being copying information from retailers, either online or offline. There have been many cases of crackers obtaining huge quantities of credit card information from companies' databases. There have been cases of employees of companies that deal with millions of customers in which they were selling the credit card information to criminals. Online means being connected to the Internet or another similar electronic network, like a bulletin board system. ... In telecommunication, the term off-line has the following meanings: 1. ... For other uses, see Black hat (disambiguation). ... A database is an information set with a regular structure. ... Employment is a contract between two parties, one being the employer and the other being the employee. ...

Despite the claims of the credit card industry and various merchants, using credit cards for online purchases can be insecure and carry a certain risk. Even so called "secure transactions" are not fully secure, since the information needs to be decrypted to plain text in order to process it. This is one of the points where credit card information is typically stolen.

Get wire transfer info

Some fraudsters approach merchants asking them for large quotes. After they quickly accept the merchant's quote, they ask for wire transfer information to send payment. Immediately, they use online check issuing systems as Qchex that require nothing but a working email, to produce checks that they use to pay other merchants or simply send associates to cash them. Qchex is a website that allows anyone to create checks based on any ABA number and account number. ...

Purchase scams

Direct solicitations

The most straightforward type of purchase scam is a buyer in another country approaching many merchants through spamming them and directly asking them if they can ship to them using credit cards to pay.

An example of such email is as follows:

From: XXXXXX XXXXXX [XXXXXXX@hotmail.com] Sent: Saturday, October 01, 2005 11:35 AM Subject: International order enquiry

Goodday Sales, This is XXXXXX XXXXXXX and I will like to place an order for some products in your store, But before I proceed with listing my requirements, I will like to know if you accept credit card and can ship internationally to Lagos, Nigeria. Could you get back to me with your website so as to forward you the list of my requirements as soon as possible. Regards, XXXXXX XXXXXX, XXXXXXXX Inc. 9999 XXXXX street, Mushin, Lagos 23401, Nigeria Telephone: 234-1-99999999, Fax: 234-1-9999999, Email: XXXXXXXXX@hotmail.com

Most likely, a few weeks or months after the merchant ships and charges the Nigerian credit card, he/she will be hit with a chargeback from the credit card processor and lose all the money.

Counterfeit Postal Money Orders

According to the FBI and postal inspectors, there has been a significant surge in the use of Counterfeit Postal Money Orders since October 2004. More than 3,700 counterfeit postal money orders (CPMOs) were intercepted by authorities from October to December of 2004, and according to the USPS, the "quality" of the counterfeits is so good that ordinary consumers can easily be fooled.

On March 9, 2005, the FDIC issued an alert ^[2] stating that it had learned that counterfeit U.S. Postal Money Orders had been presented for payment at financial institutions.

On April 26, 2005, Tom Zeller Jr. wrote an article in The New York Times^[3] regarding a surge in the quantity and quality of the forging of U.S. Postal Money Orders, and its use to commit online fraud. The article shows a picture of a man that had been corresponding with a woman in Nigeria through a dating site, and received several fake postal money orders after the woman asked him to buy a computer and mail it to her. The New York Times is a daily newspaper published in New York City and distributed internationally. ...

Who has received Counterfeit Postal Money Orders (CPMOs):

• Small Internet retailers.
• Classified advertisers.
• Individuals that have been contacted through email or chat rooms by fraudsters posing as prospective social interests or business partners, and convinced to help the fraudsters unknowingly.

Geographical origin:

• Mostly from Nigeria
• Ghana
• Eastern Europe

The penalty for making or using counterfeit postal money orders is up to ten years in jail and a US$25,000 fine.

Online automotive fraud

There are two basic schemes in online automotive fraud:

1. A fraudster posts a vehicle for sale on an online site, generally for luxury or sports cars advertised for thousands less than market value. The details of the vehicle, including photos and description, are typically lifted from sites such as eBay Motors and re-posted elsewhere. An interested buyer, hopeful for a bargain, emails the seller, who responds saying the car is still available but is located overseas. He then instructs the buyer to send a deposit via wire transfer to initiate the "shipping" process. The unwitting buyer wires the funds, and doesn't discover until days or weeks later that they were scammed.
2. A fraudster feigns interest in an actual vehicle for sale on the Internet. The "buyer" explains that a client of his is interested in the car, but due to an earlier sale that fell through has a certified check for thousands more than the asking price and requests the seller to send the balance via wire transfer. If the seller agrees to the transaction, the buyer sends the certified check via express courier (typically from Nigeria). The seller takes the check to their bank, which makes the funds available immediately. Thinking the bank has cleared the check, the seller follows through on the transaction by wiring the balance to the buyer. Days later, the check bounces and the seller realizes they have been scammed. But the money has long since been picked up and is not recoverable.

In another type of fraud, a fraudster contacts the seller of an automobile, asking for the vehicle identification number, putatively to check the accident record of the vehicle. However, the supposed buyer actually uses the VIN to make fake papers for a stolen car that is then sold. VIN redirects here. ...

COUNTERFEIT CASHIERS CHEQUE SCAM: This recent scam has been reported in Atlanta and Minneapolis. Real estate property owners placing advertisements on Craigslist or rent.com receive an e-mail response from a "24 year old in the U.K. on a research program in the United States." Addresses include john.yearwood__@yahoo.co.uk and kevin_taylor@excite.com. The first inquiry seems legitimate. The second usually comes with request for more information, and a bogus attachment from JAPAN TOBACCO INC (who has posted information about this scam on its' site)indicated the "student" has won a part time scholarship from the JT UK office. The scam comes with the third e-mail, a request for name and address so that the counterfeit cashiers cheque can be sent. The amount supposedly includes the rent and fees plus an overage for the "student's" travel. The owner is instructed to cash the cheque and wire the difference back to the student so that they can travel to the U.S. The photos often include a young man in graduation uniform from his college. (Note: U.K. colleges are the equivalent to high schools, not universities.One photo includes a rather dumpy, depressed looking girlfriend who must be aware of the scam.) Because of the lag between the cashing and clearing of the cheque, the owner doesn't realize he/she has been had until their account is debited the counterfeit cost and the wired sum. Greedy owners may even decide to keep some of the cheque, only to be had themselves later. It is best not to respond to this type of e-mail and requiring background checks before cashing first rent payments.

Cash the check system

In some cases, fraudsters approach merchants and ask for large orders: $50,000 to $200,000, and agree to pay via wire transfer in advance. After brief negotiation, the buyers gives an excuse about the impossibility of sending a bank wire transfer. The buyer then offers to send a check, stating that the merchant can wait for the check to clear before shipping any goods. The check received, however, is a counterfeit of a check from a medium to large U.S. company. If asked, the buyer will claim that the check is money owed from the large company. The merchant deposits the check and it clears, so the goods are sent. Only later, when the larger company notices the check, will the merchant's account be debited. A merchant making up the account by Shiatsus Hokusai Merchants function as professionals who deal with trade, dealing in commodities that they do not produce themselves, in order to produce profit. ... A wire transfer is a method of transferring funds from one entity to another. ... For other uses, see Negotiation (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Bank (disambiguation). ... A wire transfer is a method of transferring funds from one entity to another. ... For other uses, see Counterfeit (disambiguation). ...

In some cases, the fraudsters agree to the wire but ask the merchant for their bank's address. The fraudsters send the counterfeited check directly to the merchant's bank with a note asking to deposit it to the merchant's account. Unsuspecting bank officers deposit the check, and then the fraudster contacts the merchant stating that they made a direct deposit into the merchant's account. Direct deposit is a process where someone who is going to be paid on a recurring basis, such as an employee, or a recipient of a government entitlement or benefit program such as social security is sent the payment owed to them into their checking or savings account. ...

Re-shippers

Re-shipping scams trick individuals or small businesses into shipping goods to countries with weak legal systems. The goods are generally paid for with stolen or fake credit cards.

Nigerian version

In the Nigerian version, the fraudsters have armies of people actively recruiting single women from western countries through chat & matchmaking sites. At some point, the criminal promises to marry the lady and come to their home country in the near future. Using some excuse the criminal asks permission of his "future wife" to ship some goods he is going to buy before he comes. As soon as the woman accepts the fraudster uses several credit cards to buy at different Internet sites simultaneously. In many cases the correct billing address of the cardholder is used, but the shipping address is the home of the unsuspecting "future wife". Around the time when the packages arrive, the criminal invents an excuse for not coming and tells his "bride" that he urgently needs to pick up most or all the packages. Since the woman has not spent any money, she sees nothing wrong and agrees. Soon after, she receives a package delivery company package with pre-printed labels that she has agreed to apply to the boxes that she already has at home. The next day, all boxes are picked up by the package delivery company and shipped to the criminal's real address (in Nigeria or elsewhere). After that day the unsuspecting victim stops receiving communications from the "future husband" because her usefulness is over. To make matters worse, in most cases the criminals were able to create accounts with the package deliverer, based on the woman's name and address. So, a week or two later, the woman receives a huge freight bill from the shipping company which she is supposed to pay because the goods were shipped from her home. Unwittingly, the woman became the criminal re-shipper and helped him with his criminal actions. The Federal Republic of Nigeria is a country in West Africa and, by far, the most populated nation in Africa. ... This page refers to human matchmakers, for modern matchmaking which tends to substitute information technology or game-like rules for the experts finesse see dating system. ... Billing may mean: The process of sending accounts to customers for goods or services is called billing. ... Package delivery is the shipping of packages and parcels (and in some instances high value mail) as single shipments. ...

East European version

This is a variant of the Nigerian Version, in which criminals recruit people through classified advertising. The criminals present themselves as a growing European company trying to establish a presence in the U.S. and agree to pay whatever the job applicant is looking to make, and more. The fraudsters explain to the unsuspecting victim that they will buy certain goods in the U.S. which need to be re-shipped to a final destination in Europe. When everything is agreed they start shipping goods to the re-shipper's house. The rest is similar to the Nigerian Version. Sometimes, when the criminals send the labels to be applied to the boxes, they also include a fake cheque, as payment for the re-shipper's services. By the time the cheque bounces unpaid, the boxes have been picked up already and all communication between fraudster and re-shipper has stopped. Here's an example recruiting email received via SPAM on Oct 2, 2007: This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... For other uses, see Europe (disambiguation). ...

XXXXX Inc. invite residents of the various countries to cooperation. We found your resume on some Job Website because we are searching for reliable professionals or your information has been passed to us by your friends/relatives. Our clients need to accept goods from the various countries. Therefore we creating a network of regional agents which functions are reception of goods and further transferring goods to our shipping managers. We pay you 40$ per received package. We guarantee worthy payment of your work. This job is for you If you want to earn from $150 to $800 per week and work Only 2-3 hours then! This job requires punctuality, good organizational skills and proficiency with Microsoft windows and office programs to maintain inventory and fill forms if necessary. This job is ideal for: housewives , students, older persons, people with restrictions. No money needed to start. This is a business requiring only limited amount of your time. Requirements: 1. A computer with access to the Internet, e-mail 2. We don't work with persons under 18 3. 1-3 hours free during the week 4. Check your e-mail several times a day (each hour is perfect) 5. Reply to e-mails immediately 6. PayPal account to receive payments (optional, WU is also accepted) 7. Be responsible, hard working and communicable We offer competitive compensation, including commission and expense reimbursement. Please send your resume to xxxxxxxxxxx.com Thank You XXXXXX XXXXXXX Manager XXXXXXX Inc.

Chinese version

This is a variant of the East European Version, in which criminals recruit people through spam. The criminals present themselves as a growing Chinese company trying to establish a presence in the U.S. or Europe and agree to pay an agent whatever the unsuspecting victim is looking to make, and more. Here is an example of a recruiting email: E-mail spam, also known as bulk e-mail or junk e-mail is a subset of spam that involves sending nearly identical messages to numerous recipients by e-mail. ...

Dear Sir/Madam, I am Mr. XXX XXX, managing XXXXXXXXXXX Corp. We are a company who deal on mechanical equipment, hardware and minerals, electrical products, Medical & Chemicals, light industrial products and office equipment, and export into the Canada/America and Europe. We are searching for representatives who can help us establish a medium of getting to our costumers in the Canada/America and Europe as well as making payments through you to us. Please if you are interested in transacting business with us we will be glad. Please contact us for more information. Subject to your satisfaction you will be given the opportunity to negotiate your mode of which we will pay for your services as our representative in Canada/America and Europe. Please if you are interested forward to us your phone number/fax and your full contact addresses. Thanks in advance. Mr. XXX XXX. Managing Director"

Australian version

In the Australian version, the U.S. company is contacted by a potential customer stating they would like to place an order with their company. The first initial email represents the "Direct Solicitations" outline. Once the company responds and verifies that the desired product(s) is in stock, the the fraudster will then ask to quote shipping to Australia, and that they will be paying via credit card. Once the quote has been sent to the fraudster, the fraudsters will then reply back that they will have their U.S. agent or freight representative come to the location and pick up the merchandise, and then they will ship it to the fraudster. The fraudster then tells the company to simply add an additional charge of $700 - $1500 onto the total cost, which will be their 'agents' compensation fee. And that when the person is to arrive to pick up the parts, that the amount charged be paid to their agent. There will also be an additional compensation fee added in too for the company, for the extra trouble of paying their agent the money. The reasons range from the agent or freight company only accepts cash or the company is unable to process credit cards. Once the fraudster is told it will not be done, the communication between them and the company will stop immediately. There are also many grammar and spelling mistakes in the communications. Here is two variations of what the re-shipper email will look like: Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is the sixth-largest country in the world, the only country to occupy an entire continent, and the largest in the region of Australasia/Oceania. ...

_{Dear XXXX, Thanks for the total quote of my order.The total cost of my order is quite correct and okay by me and I'm ready to pay the bills . I shall inform my freight forwarder who will be coming to pick up the order to hold on and come immediately you inform me that the items are ready for pick up then i can give you a call on that day to get the items packed for pick up and they will call you on their arrival at your address. Also I want you to help me Charge another $1200.00 from my card to the shipping agent who will be coming to pick up my ordered items from you. The $1200.00 that will be sent to the freight forwarder is for the shipping of my order and other items i ordered from different part of the country which is to be picked up by him and should be deducted from my credit card. Also, I'm compensating you with the sum of $150.00 for the transfer fee and for your efforts. Please note that i should have given the shipping agency my credit card for him to deduct the shipping funds but he told me that he doesn't have the facilities to charge or debit credit card , so that's why i bring my vote of confidence in you and i want you to assist me in this measure, so i want you to transfer the funds to him after you have make the charges and the money charged from my credit card is in your account,then you can now make the transfer to the agent via western union.i will have love to do this my self but there are no western union here around me cos i am out of town to monitor my estate construction at a remote village,So the charges you'll make on my credit card will be Order Fee: 3,114.61 Agent fee with shipping fare: $1,200.00 Transfer Fee plus Your Compensation: $150.00 Total: $4464.61}

_{Note that my credit card will be charged for the amounts above. Please do get back to me if you are in the office right now so that i can forward my credit card details to you, then you can charge the funds I await your quick response. Kind Regards.}

_{Example Two:}

_{From: XXXXXX Sent: Tuesday, December 04, 2007 4:40 PM To: XXXXXX Subject: RE: mail oder - don't worry i will give you $300 for the stress and you can charges the money and send the money with the US what about that so let me hear from you today}

_{XXXXXX wrote: xxx, We will not be able to transfer the extra $700 to your agent. We can charge you for the motors, however, we have them at two different warehouse locations. What you have your agent do is up to you, we can either will call the motors at each warehouse for him to go and pick them up, or have them shipped to his U.S. address. However, if we do have them shipped to his location, shipping charges will apply, and then I suppose you can deduct that from the $700 you would send to him to come and pick them up. Either way you handle it, the motors are in stock and available for purchase.}

_{From: XXXXX Sent: Tuesday, December 04, 2007 4:28 PM To: XXXXXX Subject: RE: mail oder - What i just want you to know is that i will forward my credit for the bill tomorrow to charges and you will charges extra $700 usd to my agent that will come over there to pick up the goods so let me know if you can charges extra $700 then send it to him via western union money transfer}

Call tag scam

The Merchant Risk Council reported that the "call tag" scam re-emerged over the 2005 holidays and several large merchants suffered losses. Under the scheme, criminals use stolen credit card information to purchase goods online for shipment to the legitimate cardholder. When the item is shipped and the criminal receives tracking information via email, he/she calls the cardholder and falsely identifies himself as the merchant that shipped the goods, saying that the product was mistakenly shipped and asking permission to pick it up upon receipt. The criminal then arranges the pickup issuing a "call tag" with a shipping company different from the one the original merchant used. The cardholder normally doesn't notice that there is a second shipping company picking up the product, which in turn has no knowledge it is participating in a fraud scheme. The cardholder then notices a charge in his card and generates a chargeback to the unsuspecting merchant.

Business opportunity/"Work-at-Home" schemes

Fraudulent schemes often use the Internet to advertise purported business opportunities that will allow individuals to earn thousands of dollars a month in "work-at-home" ventures. These schemes typically require the individuals to pay anywhere from $35 to several hundred dollars or more, but fail to deliver the materials or information that would be needed to make the work-at-home opportunity a potentially viable business.

Often, after paying a registration fee, the applicant will be sent advice on how to place ads similar to the one that recruited him in order to recruit others, which is effectively a pyramid scheme.

Other types of work at home scams include home assembly kits. The applicant pays a fee for the kit, but after assembling and returning the item, it’s rejected as substandard, meaning the applicant is out of pocket for the materials. Similar scams include home-working directories, medical billing, data entry (data entry scam) at home or reading books for money. The word standard has several meanings: Classically, standard referred to a flag or banner; especially, a national or other ensign carried into battle; thus standard bearer indicates the one who bears, or carries, the standard. ... This article is about the computing term. ... Process Medical Billing is the practice of submitting claims to Insurance companies or the United States government, specifically medicare in order to receive payment for services provided to a patient by a doctor. ... Data processing is any process that converts data into information. ...

Money Transfers Fraud

This type of Fraud consists of an employment offer to help transfer money to a foreign company, supposedly because it costs too much to do it through other methods (which is usually not the case). The prospective victim receives an email like these 3 examples:

EXAMPLE 1 Dear Sir/Madam, XXXXXX is a small scale company in XXXXXX. We supply XXXXXXX to clients in some countries. We have reached big sales volume in the Europe as a starter, and now we are trying to penetrate the US/Canada market. Quite soon we will open representative offices or authorized sales centers in the US and therefore we are currently looking for people who will assist us in establishing a new distribution network there.The fact is that despite the US market is new for us we already have regular clients also speaks for itself. The international money transfer tax for legal entities (companies) in XXXXXX country is 25%, whereas for the individual it is only 7%. There is no sense for us to work this way, while tax for international money transfer made by a private individual is 7%. That's why we need you! We need agents to receive payment for products in money orders, cheque or bank wire transfers) and to resend the money to us via Money Gram or Western Union Money Transfer. This way we will save money because of tax decreasing. JOB DESCRIPTION? 1. Receive payment from Clients 2. Cash Payments at your Bank 3. Deduct 10% which will be your percentage/pay on Payment processed. 4. Forward balance after deduction of percentage/pay to any of the offices you will be contacted to send payment to (Payments are to be forwarded either by Money Gram or Western Union Money Transfer). HOW MUCH WILL YOU EARN? 10% from each operation! For instance: If you receive 7000 USD via cheques or money orders on our behalf. You will cash the payment and keep $700 (10% from $7000) for yourself! At the beginning your commission will equal 10%, though later it will increase up to 15%! ADVANTAGES: You do not have to go out as you will work as an independent contractor right from your home office. Your job is absolutely legal. You can earn up to $3000-4000 monthly depending on time you will spend for this job.You do not need any capital to start. You can do the Work easily without leaving or affecting your present Job. The employees who make efforts and work hard have a strong possibility to become managers. Anyway our employee never leaves us. MAIN REQUIREMENTS: 18 years or older legally capable responsible ready to work 2-4 hours per week.with PC knowledge e-mail and internet experience (minimal) And please be informed that Everything is absolutely legal. If you are interested in our offer, please reply to the following email address: XXXXXX@XXXXX with your; (1)Your full names: (2) Contact address: (3) Tele/cell numbers: (4) Occupation: (5) Age: (6) Sex: Thanks for your anticipated action. And we hope to hear back from you soon.

EXAMPLE 2 Dear Sir/Madam, I am XXXXX XXXXX, Human Resources Manager of XXXXX located in XXXX. We deal in XXXXXXX articles such XXXXXX worldwide. Our website is XXXXXX. We are currently in search of a book-keeper/company representative who would assist us in receiving payment from our customers in America/Canada/Asia and other part of Europe. This offer is absolutely legal and you do not need any capital to start. Your Job description is as follows: (1) You would receive payment on our behalf from our various clients which would come in the form of cashiers checks, travelers checks and official checks. (2) You then get the payments deposited/cashed at your bank. (3) You then deduct a commission of 10% of each payment you would be receiving, as been our representative and then send the balance money via western union to any of our agent or offices that you would be instructed. HOW MUCH WILL YOU EARN? 10% from each operation! For instance: you receive 7000 USD via checks on our behalf. You will cash the money and keep $700 (10% from $7000) for yourself! At the beginning your commission will equal 10%, though later it will increase up to 12%! Our payments will be issued out in your name, as we would inform our clients to do so. If you are interested in this offer, kindly provide us with the below details. 1) Full name 2) Full house address Street/Ave, City, State and Zip Cope 3) Phone numbers 4) Age & Sex 5) Present Occupation PLEASE NOTE THAT ALL REPLIES SHOULD BE SENT THIS E-MAIL ADDRESS: XXXXXXXXXXXX Thanks for your anticipated action. And we hope to hear back from you. XXXXXX XXXXXX (Human Resources Manager)

EXAMPLE 3 Transactions specialist - part-time work opporunity. An international investment company is looking for communicative and skillful individuals to join the Receivables Team of our Finance & Infrastructure Group in the United States on part-time basis. This position involves monitoring and processing of our company's funds. Your duties will not involve any direct client interaction, and you will be reporting to the Receivables department manager in Russia. We are looking for numerate individuals who are also able to multi-task efficiently in a team. Relevant previous experience and/or education is a plus, but not a prerequisite. The position is entirely home-based, and no relocation is required from the successful candidate. This role does not involve any fixed working hours and is suitable for senior citizens or self-employed individuals. Estimated average salary starts from $3,000.00 per month. In order to qualify for the position, you must be a permanent US resident aged 21 and above and have a verifiable personal/business banking relationship with a US bank. Since most communication with the head office will be via email/fax/phone, you should have reliable access to these facilities and be reachable during regular business hours. To apply for this position or to request additional information on our company, please contact us at xxxxxxxxx@XXXXXXXX. Please make sure to provide your contact phone number. Please note that only applicants under serious consideration will be contacted.

The fraudsters will then send fake checks or postal money orders, in the hopes of getting the victims to cash those fake money instruments and then getting real money from the victims.

These scams are also use as phishing tools, because many times the fraudsters are able to get the victims full name, address, social security, bank account number, etc, etc, which in ends up being identity fraud. An example of a phishing email, disguised as an official email from a (fictional) bank. ...

Click fraud

The latest scam to hit the headlines is the multi-million dollar Clickfraud which occurs when advertising network affiliates force paid views or clicks to ads on their own websites via spyware, the affiliate is then paid a commission on the cost-per-click that was artificially generated. Affiliate programs such as Google's Adsense capability pay high commissions that drive the generation of bogus clicks. With paid clicks costing as much as US$100^{[verification needed]} and an online advertising industry worth more than US$10 billion, this form of Internet fraud is on the increase. Click fraud occurs in pay per click online advertising when a person, automated script or computer program imitates a legitimate user of a web browser clicking on an ad, for the purpose of generating an improper charge per click. ... A large number of toolbars, some added by spyware, overwhelm an Internet Explorer session. ... Google AdSense is an ad serving program run by Google. ... Billion may mean: 1,000,000,000 (one thousand million; ), used by most English-speaking countries (American and usual modern British meaning) 1,000,000,000,000 (one million million; ), used by most other countries outside Asia (older British meaning). ...

International modem dialing

Customers of dial-up Internet Service Providers, such as AOL, use a modem to dial a local connection number. Some web sites, normally containing adult content, use international dialing to trick consumers into paying to view content on their web site. Often these sites purport to be free and advertise that no credit card is needed. They then prompt the user to download a "viewer" or "dialer" to allow them to view the content. Once the program is downloaded it disconnects the computer from the Internet and proceeds to dial an international long distance or premium rate number, charging anything up to US$7-8 per minute. An international block is recommended to prevent this, but in the U.S. and Canada, calls to the Caribbean (except Haiti) can be dialed with a "1" and a three-digit area code, so such numbers, as well as "10-10 dial-round" phone company prefixes, can circumvent an international block. The United States dollar is the official currency of the United States. ...

Internet Mass Marketing Fraud

This is an ever growing and emerging type of fraud, where the apparent merchants are the criminals. Many of these types of frauds, involve high marketing campaigns for dismal products. The customer is tricked, by the effective marketing campaign, into giving their credit card info and CVV number, for what they believe to be is the "product". The product is usually a scam. The merchant then uses this information and charges the customer's credit card.

A common example of this type of fraud, is the numerous pornographic websites, advertising for free access etc, and needs credit card for verification of age purposes only. When in fact, these spammer's use your credit card info and makes wide charges to your credit card in a highly organized fashion, often leaving the consumer in abysmal.

Another more popular type of internet marketing fraud, is the type used to sell a fake, or gimmick product. More-so, many of which are health products, and are related to health fraud. These range from products advertising a quick way to loose weight, or a cure for a serious disease, as consumers will pay billions of dollars on unproven, fraudulent marketed health-related products, devices and treatments. Common examples these fraudsters use are: Quackery is the practice of producing fraudulent medicine, usually in order to make money or for ego gratification and power. ...

1) Promising a lot. Product's that claim they can do it all.

2) Claims to be a "scientific breakthrough". Genuine scientific breakthroughs are accompanied with front page breaking news.

3) Scam artists often dress models to act as professional doctors and such to sell their product. Ad's usually mention scientific evidence, accompanied with a long list of technical jargon. These products usually have no or very short proof of this.

4) Advertisers usually have a long list of "personal testimonials". There is no guarantee that these are true, and more than often are fake.

5) Products advertise with a money back guarantee. More often than not, these are marketing schemes.

Once your credit card information is given to these type of companies. They usually will charge you no matter what type of cancellation you attempt to go through.

Internet Marketing SEO Fraud

This type of fraud involves a supposed internet marketing specialist presenting a prospective client with detailed graphs and charts that indicate that his web site receives (x) thousands of hits per month, emphasizing that if you pay for his services you will succeed in getting a number clicks converted to customers or clients.

When you receive no request for more information and no clients, the fraudster responds that it must be something your web site is not doing right.

Phishing

Main article: Phishing

"Phishing" is the act of attempting to fraudulently acquire sensitive information, such as passwords and credit card details, by masquerading as a trustworthy person or business with a real need for such information in a seemingly official electronic notification or message (most often an email, or an instant message). It is a form of social engineering attack. An example of a phishing email, disguised as an official email from a (fictional) bank. ... Social engineering has several meanings: Social engineering (political science) Social engineering (computer security) This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists pages that might otherwise share the same title. ...

The term was coined in the mid 1990s by crackers attempting to steal AOL accounts. An attacker would pose as an AOL staff member and send an instant message to a potential victim. The message would ask the victim to reveal his or her password, for instance to "verify your account" or to "confirm billing information". Once the victim gave over the password, the attacker could access the victim's account and use it for criminal purposes, such as spamming. For other uses, see AOL (disambiguation). ...

Phishing has been widely used by fraudsters using spam messages masquerading as large banks (Citibank, Bank of America) or PayPal. These fraudsters can copy the code and graphics from legitimate websites and use them on their own sites to create legitimate-looking scam web pages. They can also link to the graphics on the legitimate sites to use on their own scam site. These pages are so well done that most people cannot tell that they have navigated to a scam site. Fraudsters will also put the text of a link to a legitimate site in an e-mail but use the source code to links to own fake site. This can be revealed by using the "view source" feature in the e-mail application to look at the destination of the link or putting the cursor over the link and looking at the code in the status bar of the browser. Although many people don't fall for it, the small percentage of people that do fall for it, multiplied by the sheer numbers of spam messages sent, presents the fraudster with a substantial incentive to keep doing it. Citibank is a major international bank, founded in 1812 as the City Bank of New York. ... Bank of America (NYSE: BAC TYO: 8648) is the largest commercial bank in the United States in terms of deposits, and the largest company of its kind in the world. ... eBays North First Street satellite office campus (home to PayPals corporate headquarters) PayPal is an e-commerce business allowing payments and money transfers to be made through the Internet. ...

Anti-phishing technologies are now available. There are various techniques and technology used to combat phishing. ...

Email Spoofing

Main article: Spoofing_attack

The sender information shown in e-mails (the "From" field) can be spoofed easily, though nowadays many domains have the Sender Policy Framework implemented, which helps prevent the e-mail spoofing. This technique is commonly used by Spammers to hide the origin of their e-mails and leads to problems such as misdirected bounces (i.e. e-mail spam backscatter). The spammers use a reliable "From" e-mail address so that they gain trust and authority, yet if the possible victim replies, the reply will be delivered to the spammer's e-mail address and not to the e-mail available on "From": reliable email used in spoofing In the context of network security, a spoofing attack is a situation in which one person or program successfully masquerades as another by falsifying data and thereby gaining an illegitimate advantage. ... Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ... In computing, Sender Policy Framework (SPF) is an extension to the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP). ... E-mail spam, also known as bulk e-mail or junk e-mail is a subset of spam that involves sending nearly identical messages to numerous recipients by e-mail. ... A bounce message, or Delivery Status Notification (DSN) message or, simply, a bounce is an automated electronic mail message from a mail system informing the sender of another message about a delivery problem. ...

Pharming

Main article: Pharming

Pharming is the exploitation of a vulnerability in the DNS server software that allows a hacker to acquire the domain name for a site, and to redirect that website's traffic to another web site. DNS servers are the machines responsible for resolving internet names into their real addresses - the "signposts" of the internet. Pharming (pronounced farming) is a crackers attack aiming to redirect a websites traffic to another, bogus website. ... An exploit is a piece of software, a chunk of data, or sequence of commands that take advantage of a bug, glitch or vulnerability in order to cause unintended or unanticipated behavior to occur on computer software, hardware, or something electronic (usually computerized). ... For other uses of the word Vulnerability, please refer to vulnerability (computer science). ... The Domain Name System (DNS) associates various sorts of information with so-called domain names; most importantly, it serves as the phone book for the Internet by translating human-readable computer hostnames, e. ... Computer software (or simply software) refers to one or more computer programs and data held in the storage of a computer for some purpose. ... This article is about computer hacking. ... The term domain name has multiple related meanings: A name that identifies a computer or computers on the Internet. ... A website (alternatively, Web site or web site) is a collection of Web pages, images, videos or other digital assets that is hosted on one or several Web server(s), usually accessible via the Internet, cell phone or a LAN. A Web page is a document, typically written in HTML... This article is about the machine. ... An IP address (Internet Protocol address) is a unique address that certain electronic devices currently use in order to identify and communicate with each other on a computer network utilizing the Internet Protocol standard (IP)—in simpler terms, a computer address. ...

If the web site receiving the traffic is a fake web site, such as a copy of a bank's website, it can be used to "phish" or steal a computer user's passwords, PIN or account number. Note that this is only possible when the original site was not SSL protected, or when the user is ignoring warnings about invalid server certificates. For other uses, see Bank (disambiguation). ... An example of a phishing email, disguised as an official email from a (fictional) bank. ... A password is a form of secret authentication data that is used to control access to a resource. ... PINs are most often used for ATMs but are increasingly used at the Point of sale, especially for debit cards. ... A bank account is a monetary account with a banking institution recording the balance of money for a customer. ... Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) and Transport Layer Security (TLS), its successor, are cryptographic protocols which provide secure communications on the Internet. ... In information technology, a server is an application or device that performs services for connected clients as part of a client-server architecture. ... In cryptography, a public key certificate (or identity certificate) is an electronic document which incorporates a digital signature to bind together a public key with an identity — information such as the name of a person or an organization, their address, and so forth. ...

For example, in January 2005, the domain name for a large New York ISP, Panix, was hijacked to a site in Australia. In 2004 a German teenager hijacked the eBay.de domain name. 2005 : January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September - October - November - December- → Deaths in January • 29 Ephraim Kishon • 25 Philip Johnson • 23 Johnny Carson • 22 Parveen Babi • 20 Jan Nowak-Jeziorański • 17 Virginia Mayo • 17 Zhao Ziyang • 15 Ruth Warrick • 14 Rudolph Moshammer Recent deaths Ongoing events • Tsunami relief... “ISP” redirects here. ... Domain hijacking is the process by which internet domains are basically stolen. ... Year 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... “Young Men” redirects here. ... This article is about the online auction center. ... .de is the country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for the Federal Republic of Germany. ...

Secure e-mail provider Hushmail was also caught by this attack on 24th of April 2005 when the attacker rang up the domain registrar and gained enough information to redirect users to a defaced webpage. Communications security (COMSEC): Measures and controls taken to deny unauthorized persons information derived from telecommunications and ensure the authenticity of such telecommunications. ... Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ... Hushmail is a free webmail service founded by Cliff Baltzley after leaving Ultimate Privacy. ... In common usage, to deface something refers to the act of marking your penetration of a vagina, or removing the part of an object (especially images, be they on the page, in illustrative art or as sculpture) designed to hold the viewers attention. ...

Anti-pharming technologies are now available. Techniques and technology used to combat pharming. ...

Auction and retail schemes online

Fraudsters launch auctions on eBay or TradeMe with very low prices and no reservations especially for high priced items like watches, computers or high value collectibles. They received payment but never deliver, or deliver an item that is less valuable than the one offered, such as counterfeit, refurbished or used. Some fraudsters also create complete webstores that appear to be legitimate, but they never deliver the goods. An example of such a fraudulent site is [[marselle.com],[jeremimora.com]]. They take payment but never shipped the order. In some cases, some stores or auctioneers are legitimate but eventually they stopped shipping after cashing the customers' payments.

Sometimes fraudsters will combine phishing to hijacking legitimate member accounts on eBay, typically with very high numbers of positive feedback, and then set up a phony online store. They received payment usually via check, money-order, cash or wire transfer but never deliver the goods; then they leave the poor, unknowing eBay member to sort out the mess. In this case the fraudster collects the money while ruining the reputation of the conned eBay member and leaving a large number of people without the goods they thought they purchased.

Stock market manipulation schemes

These are also called investment schemes online. Criminals use these to try to manipulate securities prices on the market, for their personal profit. According to enforcement officials of the Securities and Exchange Commission, the 2 main methods used by these criminals are:

Pump-and-dump schemes

False and/or fraudulent information is disseminated in chat rooms, forums, internet boards and via email (spamming), with the purpose of causing a dramatic price increase in thinly traded stocks or stocks of shell companies (the "pump"). As soon as the price reaches a certain level, criminals immediately sell off their holdings of those stocks (the "dump"), realizing substantial profits before the stock price falls back to its usual low level. Any buyers of the stock who are unaware of the fraud become victims once the price falls. When they realize the fraud, it is too late to sell. They lost a high percentage of their money. Even if the stock value does increase, the stocks may be hard to sell because of lack of interested buyers, leaving the shareholder with the shares for a far longer term than desired.

Short-selling or "scalping" schemes

This scheme takes a similar approach to the "pump-and-dump" scheme, by disseminating false or fraudulent information through chat rooms, forums, internet boards and via email (spamming), but this time with the purpose of causing dramatic price decreases in a specific company's stock. Once the stock reaches a certain low level, criminals buy the stock or options on the stock, and then reverse the false information or just wait for it to wear off with time or to be disproved by the company or the media. Once the stock goes back to its normal level, the criminal sells the stock or option and reaps the huge gain.

Avoiding Internet investment scams

The US Security Exchange Commission have enumerated guideline on how to avoid internet investment scams. The summary are as follows:

• The Internet allows individuals or companies to communicate with a large audience without spending a lot of time, effort, or money. Anyone can reach tens of thousands of people by building an Internet web site, posting a message on an online bulletin board, entering a discussion in a live "chat" room, or sending mass e-mails.
• If you want to invest wisely and steer clear of frauds, you must get the facts.
• The types of investment fraud seen online mirror the frauds perpetrated over the phone or through the mail. Consider all offers with skepticism.

References

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (January 2008)

Image File history File links Question_book-3. ...

See also

• Advance fee fraud
• Click fraud
• Credit card fraud
• Forex scam
• Employment scams
• Romance scam
• Pharming
• Phishing
• Wire fraud

An advance-fee fraud is a confidence trick in which the target is persuaded to advance relatively small sums of money in the hope of realizing a much larger gain. ... Click fraud is a type of internet crime that occurs in pay per click online advertising when a person, automated script, or computer program imitates a legitimate user of a web browser clicking on an ad, for the purpose of generating a charge per click without having actual interest in... Credit card fraud is a wide-ranging term for theft and fraud committed using a credit card or any similar payment mechanism as a fraudulent source of funds in a transaction. ... A forex scam is any trading scheme used to defraud individual traders by convincing them that they can expect to gain an unreasonably high profit by trading in the foreign exchange market. ... Employment scams, also know as job scams, are a form of advance fee fraud scamming where certain unscrupulous persons posing as recruiters and/or employers offer attractive employment opportunities which require the job seeker to pay them money in advance, usually under the guise of work visas, travel expenses, and... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Pharming (pronounced farming) is a crackers attack aiming to redirect a websites traffic to another, bogus website. ... An example of a phishing email, disguised as an official email from a (fictional) bank. ... Wire fraud is a legal concept in the United States Code which provides for enhanced penalty of any criminally fraudulent activity if it is determined that the activity involved electronic communications of any sort, at any phase of the event. ...

External links

• Article about Internet Fraud from the U.S. Department of Justice

Nanny warnings [1]

• National Consumer's League Internet Fraud Page
• Advanced Fee Business Scams U.S. Department of State Article
• Internet Fraud: How to Avoid Internet Investment Scams from the US Securities and Exchange Commission
• FBI Overview of Internet Fraud
• Mobile's Security Advice for Car Buyers and Sellers
• Credit Card Internet Security General advice on using your credit card on-line

• Nanny scams The latest on nanny scams