Introduction:
The modern world is advancing quickly into the cyber-age. The computer and the World Wide Web have brought the world within our range, a world with access to a vast amount of information, services, forums etc. One can barely put in words the extent to which this has benefited us. But there are still the cons which haven’t been considered.
The problem that we face today is the rapid progress of technology which has found its way around existing social control systems and allowed people to do as they please with this technology. The law and the government are struggling to catch up with these criminals but it is also important to bring everybody into the fight against scams. So in this section, we will be giving you information about these scams and be wary of them.
If nobody falls for these scams, those scammers out there will realize that it is pointless to post these scams anymore and we won’t be seeing anymore of this nonsense ever again.
Types of scams :
Scams can take on many different forms, most of them have the purpose of tricking internet users into doing something they are not aware of.
Some types of scams include:
Phishing: An attempt to criminally acquire sensitive information, such as usernames, passwords and credit card details.
Typically carried out by email or instant messaging and often directs users to enter details at a website.
Click fraud: Occurs when advertising network affiliates force paid views or clicks to ads ontheir own websites via spy ware, the affiliate is then paid a commission on the cost-per-click that was artificially generated.
Email spoofing (spoofing means deceiving): The sender information shown in e-mails (the "From" field) can be spoofed easily. This technique is commonly used by Spammers to hide the origin of their e-mails and leads to problems such as misdirected bounces.
Pharming: The exploitation of 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. 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 steal a computer user's passwords, PIN or account number.
Case Studies:
(Extracts from news articles on BBC)
Tuesday, 8 January, 2002
“Teen pays for alleged internet scam”
American authorities have settled a lawsuit with a Californian teenager who allegedly swindled investors out of more than $900,000 by operating a fraudulent investment service website……
……17-year-old Cole Bartiromo……defrauded about 1,000 investors through his "Invest Better 2001" site, which has now been removed from the web……
……the teenager will be forced to pay back the money the SEC says he made from the website and stashed in an account in a Costa Rican casino……as many as 10 more individuals could have been involved in the alleged scam.
In September 2000 it brought charges against another teenager, Jonathan Lebed, who earned more than $250,000 by trading stocks on the internet……
……in August last year, 24-year-old Californian Marc Jakob was jailed for four years after he issued a fake press release regarding technology firm Emulex Corp in order to manipulate the stock price.
“Just about anyone - even a 17-year-old high school student - can mastermind a securities fraud on the internet”
SEC enforcement director Stephen Cutler
Friday, 30 January, 2004
“Suicide of internet scam victim”
A man died after setting himself on fire when he was cheated in an internet money-laundering scam, an inquest heard.
Leslie Fountain's body was discovered in a field in Fen Ditton, Cambridgeshire, on his 48th birthday, days after he thought he had won $1.2 million in an internet lottery.
Mr Fountain, a senior technician at Anglia Polytechnic University, had debts of £25,000 and thought the win would solve all his financial problems.
When he realised he had been TRICKED he became depressed……
He tried to access his winnings through the internet……he realised he was not going to get the money.
The following morning Mr Fountain……bought a can of petrol and left a message for his wife, Roberta, saying he could no longer "handle things".
His badly burned body was found shortly on 18 November 2003 with a petrol can and matches lying nearby……
……The operation involved emailing people to tell them they had won and asking for bank account details so the money could be transferred.
Instead, the accounts were used for laundering money.
Deputy Coroner Dr Colin Lattimore recorded a verdict of suicide and said: "Mr Fountain killed himself while suffering from depression, caused by what would have been good news but turned out to be very bad news."
"Anyone who gets an email saying they have won lots of money like this should ignore it and never pass on their bank details. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is,"
Detective Sergeant Alan Page
Effects
From the above two extracts, we can conclude that:
Many people get the misconception that masterminds behind these scams are normally adults. However, in the first article we have seen how a high school student had managed to scam so many adults at one go. This shows that anyone who has access to a computer and the internet can plan a scam or fraud anytime, anywhere.
You might think that scams are no big deal at all. Well, from the second article we have seen how important a scam is to a person that it led him to his demise. Like the man, some victims of such scams could not take the emotional blow of getting tricked and become depressed or take their own lives to end their suffering. Scamming is so not something to mess with.
