Everything you should know about Internet Fraud, the types and ways to avoid it

Internet fraud is a type of cybercrime fraud or deception which makes use of the Internet. It could also involve hiding information or providing incorrect information for the purpose of tricking victims out of money, property, and inheritance.

Internet fraud is not considered a single, distinctive crime but covers a range of illegal and illicit actions that are committed in cyberspace. It is, however, differentiated from theft since, in this case, the victim voluntarily and knowingly provides the information, money or property to the perpetrator. It is also distinguished by the way it involves temporally and spatially separated offenders.

There are various types of Internet Fraud which are as follows,

CHARITY FRAUD

Charity Fraud is in form of a Charitable Organization with scammers soliciting donations to help the victims of natural disasters, terrorist attacks, regional conflict, or epidemic

In recent years, there have been cases of scams being done by the people who started the charity. A recent example of this was the head of the Long Island Charity, Wafa Abbound. Abbound was found guilty of stealing close to a million dollars. She was charged with bank fraud, money laundering, and embezzling.

However, there are many methods scammers will use. First, they will ask for donations, often linking to online news articles to strengthen their story of a funds drive. The scammer’s victims are charitable people who believe they are helping a worthy cause and expect nothing in return. Once sent, the money is gone and the scammer often disappears, though many attempts to keep the scam going by asking for a series of payments.

INTERNET TICKET FRAUD

Internet Ticket Fraud is the internet marketing ticket offers to sought-after events such as concerts, shows and sports events.

A variation of Internet marketing fraud offers tickets to sought-after events such as concerts, shows, and sports events. The tickets are fake or are never delivered.

The proliferation of online ticket agencies and the existence of experienced and dishonest ticket resellers has fueled this kind of fraud. Many such scams are run by British ticket touts, though they may base their operations in other countries.

ONLINE GIFT CARD FRAUD

Online gift card fraud is also known as Electronic gift cards, egift cards, digital gift cards, mobile gift cards and virtual gift cards, all refer to gift codes (see, they’re not even cards) that are delivered using technology such as email, SMS text, social media and smartphone apps.

As retailers and other businesses have growing concerns about what they can do about preventing the use of gift cards purchased with stolen credit card numbers, cybercriminals have more recently been focusing on taking advantage of fraudulent gift cards.

More specifically, malicious hackers have been trying to get their hands on information pertinent to gift cards that have been issued but not spent.

Methods scammers use for stealing gift card

Some of the methods for stealing gift card data include automated bots that launch brute force attacks on retailer systems that store them. First, hackers will steal gift card data, check the existing balance through a retailer’s online service, and then attempt to use those funds to purchase goods or to resell on a third party website. In cases where gift cards are resold, the attackers will take the remaining balance in cash, which can also be used as a method of money laundering. This harms the customer gift card experience, the retailer’s brand perception, and can cost the retailer thousands in revenue. Another way gift card fraud is committed is by stealing a person’s credit card information to purchase brand new gift cards.

SOCIAL MEDIA FRAUD

Social media is websites and applications that enable users to create and share content or to participate in social networking.

In recent times people tend to disclose more personal information about themselves (e.g. birthday, e-mail, address, hometown and relationship status) in their social networking profiles. This personally identifiable information could be used by fraudsters to steal users’ identities, and posting this information on social media makes it a lot easier for fraudsters to take control of it.

PURCHASE FRAUD

A fraudster uses the World Wide Web to advertise non-existent goods or services. Payment is sent remotely but the goods or services never arrive.

The methods these scammers use are they will give these fake products very low prices, they will want to make payments through electronic fund transfers, and they will want to do it right away. All of these methods are also ways to figure out whether or not these are actually scams.

Another way to spot the scam is privacy and contact details, information about delivery, terms and conditions, etc, will not be presented. Scammers will use fake stores. These fake stores the scammers operate from will be broadcast through social media. This is done primarily because there are a lot of people who use social media and the number keeps growing every day. Usually, a way to spot these fake stores is to look for online reviews, if they do not have any reviews, they are fake.

WAYS TO AVOID INTERNET FRAUD

• Stay alert and skeptical of people unexpectedly contacting you by email or phone and asking about personal information. Only open emails, links, and attachments from trustworthy sources.
• Shop safely. Before shopping online, make sure the website uses secure technology. When you are at the checkout screen, verify that the web address begins with https. Also, check to see if a tiny locked padlock symbol appears on the page
• Keep personal information personal. Hackers can use social media profiles to figure out your passwords and answer those security questions in the password reset tools
• Read the site’s privacy policies. Though long and complex, privacy policies tell you how the site protects the personal information it collects. If you don’t see or understand a site’s privacy policy, consider doing business elsewhere.