Agape Blog

With the financial crisis affecting USA severly, it has also affected other countries. This has resulted in a complete turn around in terms of the spendings worldwide. And with such tight situations, online financial fraud has witnessed a soaring growth.

Britan has been the worst affected country after witnessing a soaring cyber crime rate in 2007. A recent report published by an online firm stated that cyber crime in the UK rose by more than 9 percent in 2007. According to Tom Ilube, chief executive, Garlick, majority of the crimes committed online were in relation to fraud and abusive or threatening emails leaving more than two million people prone to online harassment.

The study further revealed that the online crimes were being committed by professionals and one could expect an overall increase owing to the credit crunch that would led many people to perform illegal activities. It’s critical in this time of financial crisis that individuals are vigilant with their personal information, because as long as the credit crunch continues, the growth in online financial fraud is bound to increase.

Online frauds have increased and continues to increase at a rapid rate. One of the ways that the spammers have adopted recently is by targetting the social networking sites.

Initially, Orkut was a very large breeding ground for virus attacks. But now it has moved to MySpace and Facebook. In what is seen as a first-of-its kind attack on the social networking site Facebook, spammers have begun using two internet protocol (IP) addresses to infect unsuspecting users with a Trojan virus. The virus is disguised in a manner that entices the user as it is masquerading as official emails sent by the popular Web 2.0 social-networking site. When a user is added to another user’s friend list on the social network, as protocol Facebook sends an email to notify their users of this. However, the spammers included a zip attachment that purports to contain a picture in order to entice the recipient to double-click on it. The attached file is actually a Trojan horse, which is a virus that can corrupt the hard disk of the victim. This email is sent from a domain that closely resembles facebookmail.com, an official domain used by Facebook to notify its users.

One IP address is used to send the spam, while the other directs the user to attack site. This makes it difficult for the site vendor to block the malicious spam easily. Earlier, when spammers used one IP address to launch a spam or phishing attack, vendors found it easy to block the lone address. But with two IP addresses being the norm of the day, it is an indication that the spammers are now more sophisticated in their modus operandi.

Cyber crime is up again for 2007. Hardly news, of course; it is no secret that this plague is spreading farther and deeper by the hour. And same as last year Internet Auction Fraud continues to lead the peak of Cyber crimes with a percentage of 35.7%, according to Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3).

What far too many users fail to realize is that when something is purchased via an Internet auction, it is not bought from the auction house (say eBay or Amazon) but from an individual or company. The auction site - acting as a go-between - merely provides a forum where individuals can trade with one another, and it usually adopts - and prominently displays - a firm policy of washing their hands of legal responsibility for any loss suffered from using their service.

Once the bidding has concluded, the payment for and delivery of the goods bought and sold is negotiated between the purchaser and seller. If the item is not delivered after it is paid for or is not what was represented on the auction site, the auction house will not refund any money. It is up to the buyer to approach the seller to negotiate a fair and proper settlement.

Therefore, keep the following in mind when dealing with on-line auctions, or whenever you buy anything online:

1. Understand as much as possible about how the auction works.
2. Find out what actions the web site/company takes if a problem occurs.
3. Learn as much as possible about the seller apart from an e-mail address. Use Search Engines, ask references, clarify from partners of the seller, etc.
4. Examine the feedback on the seller. From previous customers or testimonials or from known sources.
5. Determine what method of payment the seller is asking from you and where he/she is asking to send the payment.
6. Make sure the online payment system is SSL certified.
7. Look out for the settlement conditions if a problem occurs with the auction transaction. Carefully read Conditions of Use and Privacy Notice.
8. Ask the seller about when delivery can be expected and the warranty conditions.
9. Find out if shipping and delivery are included in the auction price.
10. Never give out your Social Security Number to the seller.