Fraud and Phishing
Types of Internet Fraud:
- Auction Fraud - Auction fraud is the situation where a purchaser is tricked by a seller on an auction site. This can happen in two key ways: misrepresentation of an item for sale or products being bought/won and not being delivered by the seller.
- Fake Websites - A website is designed to look as similar to a legitimate website (such as a bank website) and named as closely as possible too, perhaps using a common misspelling of the copied website. This leads users to believe that they are on the legitimate website and Hence divulge sensitive information.
- Lotteries - Victims are tricked into believing they have won large sums of money or an expensive prize and are hence tricked into divulging personal information while trying to claim said prize. Certain operators may also ask for a fee before their winnings can be claimed.
- Offers of employment - A victim is offered a work-at-home job by someone based outside of their country, and paid by check by a supposed creditor of said employer (on grounds of having no banking set up in the victims home country). Victims are often then overpaid, and the employer asks them to wire them the over payment. The checks are then found to be fake.
Phishing
Phishing is the act sending emails while pretending to be person or entity whom the target will see a trustworthy. This allows the "phisher" to acquire personal information from the user.
The emails sent prompt people to enter personal details on a fraudulent website. The emails are commonly designed to look as though they are from official sources. There is often a hyper-link inside the emails, asking that the user click them in order that they reach a page where they could, for example, validate account information. Such emails will likely contain a threat to the recipient, e.g. "failure to provide the information will lead to termination of your account." etc. These can lead to victims providing the criminals with enough information that they can steal money etc. from the user, as well as other forms of identity theft.
The majority of phishing websites are hosted in the US (50%). 4% of phishing websites are hosted in the UK.
The Romance Scam is one of the most common types of phishing on the internet. As the title of the scam suggests it preys on people interested in love on dating websites. It involves a user tricking the victim into divulging personal information which can enable the criminal to gain access to personal accounts and similar belonging to the user. Alternatively, the criminal main gain the victims confidence in order to ask for money.