from: http://www.aci.net/kalliste/ Click Here: <A HREF="http://www.aci.net/kalliste/">The Home Page of J. Orlin Grabbe</A> ----- More FBI Snake Oil Merchants Beware! The CyberCops Are Coming! First they sell you the problem. Then they sell you the solution. WASHINGTON, D.C. (CBS.MW) - It’s been almost two months since the launch of the federal government’s Internet Fraud Complaint Center, and officials don’t know much more about e-crime than they did then. This, however, they do know: the problem is growing every day, and merchants rather than consumers have the most to fear from e-criminals. To date, the Federal Bureau of Investigations has not been able to assign a total dollar amount to e-crime. But there are other important figures. Forrester Research (FORR: news, msgs) reported in April that e-commerce would reach $6.9 trillion by 2004. The number of Net shoppers is soaring. Every second of every day, four new people log onto the Web, according to the FBI’s Bob Pocica. Last year, consumers lost more than $3.2 million to Internet fraud, a 38 percent increase, according to the National Consumers League. And domestic fraud of Internet merchants in 1999 topped $1.4 billion, accounting for 11 percent of all dollar transactions. The figure for Internet business fraud is also 10.5 percent higher than that of its bricks-and-mortar counterparts, said Paul Fichtman, chairman of the Internet Fraud Council , which was founded to gather research and provide prevention tips to companies and consumers. E-personations: Beware of Hoover in Drag Web crime is expected to grow at the rate of the Internet or about 80 percent this year alone, Fichtman said. What’s more, the activity is quite concentrated. “Virtually all of the fraud being perpetuated is identity fraud,” Fichtman said. “It’s very easy for professional fraudsters to perpetuate these schemes. They’re looking for things that can easily be turned into cash.” Many times, the criminals use fraudulent identities to buy high cost goods they can then sell on the street. Or they create phony brokerage accounts to launder money, Fichtman said. The way they do this is by stealing credit card numbers by skimming information off magnetic strips or stealing bills from mailboxes or by using software that generates credit card numbers. However, there has not been a documented case of a consumer’s identity being stolen from an encrypted transaction over the Web, Fichtman noted. He advises consumers to avoid providing financial information over the telephone. “The real risk to consumers today is identity theft, which is difficult to get fixed but is more of a nuisance risk,” Fichtman said. “Merchants, however, are at an extreme risk.” A lot of the crime could be prevented with good-sense business practices such as managing terminated employees properly or careful screening of new employees. There’s also technology that authenticates users, but many companies don’t take advantage of it, Fichtman said. “Many online merchants don’t understand the risk of conducting transactions on the Internet,” Fichtman said. “They don’t understand that if they get a fraudulent charge-back, they’re out the merchandise and the money. I would say that less than 20 percent of companies are truly protecting themselves today.” “The scary thing about the Internet is that it’s so fast, and fraudsters can charge a tremendous amount of money in a small time. As bad as this is, the Internet constituted only 0.6 percent of all commerce in 1999.” In conjunction with the National White Collar Crime Center and the Department of Justice, the Federal Bureau of Investigation launched the Internet Fraud Complaint Center on May 8. The Web site was designed to serve as a clearinghouse for complaints so that data could be centralized and then farmed out to the appropriate law enforcement authorities. “You can’t be proactive until you know what the problems are,” the FBI’s Bob Pocica told CBS.MarketWatch.com. “You have to have a place to receive complaints, and as time progresses, more and more cases will be referred. Then we can identify crime trends and become proactive with local law enforcement.” So far, the Web site is receiving about 1,200 complaints a week, Pocica said. Data gathered at the Web site, http://www.ifccfbi.gov/, not only benefits law enforcement in the effort to crack down on crime, it will also serve as an educational tool. Lack of knowledge about e-crime can be the most formidable enemy, Fichtman said. CBS Market Watch, June 25, 2000 ----- Aloha, He'Ping, Om, Shalom, Salaam. Em Hotep, Peace Be, All My Relations. Omnia Bona Bonis, Adieu, Adios, Aloha. Amen. Roads End <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. 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