When Internet fraud occurs at an institutional
level, involving companies and corp orates for commercial gain - it is referred
to as commercial fraud. Fraud action is taken by many agencies that may work
together in their respective countries to help the companies that have been
affected. Commercial crime investigators possess rich expertise and experience
in handling cyber crimes. They hail from disciplines like criminology, forensic
accounting, taxology, federal laws and psychology.
- Bankruptcy and Insolvency crimes
A person or a company declares
oneself bankrupt or insolvent when it is not able to meet the financial
obligations that are owed to creditors. When a company declares itself
insolvent, it is barred from undertaking any more commercial activity. The
official trustee administers the proceedings of realizing the company’s assets
and paying off its creditors. The creditors are moderated to accept the best
payment that can be assigned from the sale proceeds of the assets. Fraud occurs
when assets are transferred in seclusion, traded online, without knowledge of
the trustee and the creditors in order to escape from the obligation of paying
them. Fraud action can be initiated by the relevant law enforcement agency in the country.
- Counterfeit Credit Card Scams
Counterfeit credit cards are
cloned by fraudsters that resemble a genuine card using information of the
victim that has been acquired through fraudulent means. An intelligent studying of the fake cards can
provide lot of useful information for fraud action. Specific card providers
begin their credit card with specific numbers. The number pattern and skewness
quotient must be studied which can reveal fake patterns. Areas like the
hologram of the card provider, the signature strip etc. must be analyzed for
clarity and authenticity. Where a shopkeeper receives a card with mutilated
magnetic strip, he must be alert. Most of the issuing companies offer extra
layers of security like micro printing of verification numbers, embedding ultra
violet logos. Fraud action must ensue immediately when a fake card is spotted.
- Skimming Frauds
This is closely related to card
related internet scam. Fraudsters attach a skimmer to ATM machines or payment processing machines which can copy
the magnetic strip of the card. Once this is copied, it becomes a cakewalk for
scammers to clone and forge the original and create a look-alike card. This is
one of the reasons why customers are urged to rush blocking of cards once it is
stolen. Fraud action can be effective but a measure of caution can prevent occurrence
of frauds. Expired cards need to cut up before being thrown away. PINs should
never be written or mentioned in public. When entering PIN in the processor,
customers need to be vigilant for nosy on-lookers. As much as possible,
customers must not part with the cards and must stay in vicinity when payment
is being processed. Observing details of the processor, the transaction etc.
may come in handy during fraud action procedure.
There are many more types of
frauds for commercial gain like business opportunities scams, identity theft,
phishing scams,etc., which are committed when safety of the Internet is
compromised. Fraud action needs to pursue the crime instantaneously and
meticulously as soon as an issue is suspected.
