Internet Fraud And Identity Theft
By Nikolai Ivanov

The Internet is a global marketplace that allows businesses to reach consumers in almost any part of the world. Unfortunately, crooks also recognize the potentials of the Internet. The scams that were previously conducted by regular mail and telephone were transferred to the Internet.

The complaints related to online scams can be subdivided into two categories: fraud complaints and identity theft complaints. According to a report published by Consumer.gov in 2006 out of 674,354 complaints 428,319, or 64%, were fraud related and 246,035, or 36%, were identity theft related.

In the fraud category, almost 7% of all complaints were shop-at-home/catalog sales related, 7% were prizes/sweepstakes and lotteries related, 6% were Internet services and computer related complaints, 5% were Internet auctions related complaints, 3% were foreign money offers related complaints, 2% were advance-fee loans and credit protection/repair related complaints, and the remaining 11% complaints were related to telephone services, health care, business opportunities and work at home plans, travel, vacation and timeshare, investments, and etc. . Overall, consumer losses amounted to over 1.1 billion dollars and the medial monetary loss was 500 dollars. According to Fraud.org, in 2005 the top scams included the following:

• Auctions: goods were never delivered or were misrepresented.
• General merchandise: goods were never delivered or were misrepresented.
• Nigerian money offers: false promises of riches if consumer pays to transfer money to their bank accounts.
• Fake checks: phony checks were used to pay for work or items sold.
• Lotteries/lottery clubs: requests for payment to claim lottery winnings or get help to win.
• Advance fee loans: false promises of personal or business loans, even if credit is bad, for a fee upfront.
• Work-at-home plans: kits sold on false promises of big profits from working at home.

In the identity theft category, in 2006 the credit card fraud amounted to 25% of all complaints and was the most common form of reported complaints. It was followed by the phone or utilities fraud (16%), bank fraud (16%), and employment fraud (14%). Other significant categories of identity theft reported by victims were government documents/benefits fraud (10%) and loan fraud (5%).

Are you concerned about your online safety? If yes, then you need to consider using the AdWare and SpyWare removal tools. The collection of the top rated AdWare and SpyWare removal tools can be found at www.ProvenToWork.com.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Nikolai_Ivanov
http://EzineArticles.com/?Internet-Fraud-And-Identity-Theft&id=812864

Reporting Internet Scams
By Gary Gresham

When it comes to reporting Internet scams most of us either don't have a clue who to contact or just ignore them in our email. But according to an FBI report in December 2004, nearly ten million people last year didn't ignore them and fell for the latest Internet scams. The money those victims lost totaled nearly $5 billion.

That number of victims and their losses are probably much higher because several cases go unreported every year. People either don't want to admit that it happened to them or have no idea who to report it to.

But that's how these thieves get away with Internet email scams for so long without getting caught. The only way to stop these con artists from operating is by reporting Internet scams to the proper authorities.

If you or someone you know has become a victim one of these scams here is where you can report it and do your part to catch these criminals. The best place to report email scams is The Internet Fraud Complaint Center or (IFCC). They are a partnership between the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the National White Collar Crime Center (NW3C). Their web address is: http://www1.ifccfbi.gov

The IFCC's mission is to address fraud committed over the Internet. For victims of Internet fraud, IFCC provides a convenient and easy-to-use reporting mechanism that alerts authorities of a suspected criminal or civil violation.

Reporting email scams to The Internet Fraud Complaint Center helps them arrest and convict the criminals that are ruining the Internet for everyone. Anyone should have the right to safe Internet surfing without having to worry about predators stealing their money or their identity.

Identity theft and these recent Internet scams are the fastest growing crimes in America today. You can make the Internet safer for everyone and help put a stop to this terrible crime just by reporting Internet scams to the IFCC. It will make a difference.

Copyright © 2005 Spyware Information.com All Rights Reserved.

This article is provided by http://www.spyware-information.com where you will find free spyware cleaners, downloads, removal software, valuable tips and updated articles about adware and spyware that show you how protect yourself from identity theft. For other informative spyware and identity protection articles go to http://spyware-information.com/articles_1.html

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Gary_Gresham
http://EzineArticles.com/?Reporting-Internet-Scams&id=41386