When Internet users are subjected
to the evil designs of fraudulent emails, they can begin reporting scam emails
to various law enforcing bodies of their respective countries. Internet or
cyber laws in different nations can be different and the scope also varies.
A malicious act may be a crime in
some countries whereas it may be a legitimate activity in others. Emails are
commonly the starting point of all internet scams since scammers bask in the
benefit of reaching out their targets with anonymity.
Though advanced techniques in
informational technology can make trace IP addresses to get to the origin of
scam emails, the degree of traceability is comparatively dim - giving them the
advantage of time delays.
- Internet Service Providers
Almost all popular internet
service providers extend facilities for their users to bring scam emails to
their notice. Reporting scam emails becomes simple in these cases. Renowned
email service providers like Yahoo, Gmail and Hotmail publicize the email ids
to which users can send complaints on fake and scam mails.
In addition to this they have
space on their websites for lodging complaints. For example, Yahoo has a
special complaints forum help.yahoo.com for reporting scam emails. Users can
also contact the yahoo complaint cell by phone. In case of Google, it is
support.google.com where reporting of scam emails is encouraged.
- Social Media
Social Media sites like face
book, twitter and orkut are excellent means of sharing the details of the scam
email ids to check further spread of such online scams. Also the contacts of
the particular users who use social media are sufficiently alerted to be
cautious. Reporting scam emails on social media yields good results.
- Action Fraud
Action Fraud is the National
Fraud and Cyber Crime Reporting Centre of the United Kingdom. It deals with all
types of cyber-crimes and also takes the role of educating people on the
warning signs of internet scams. Reporting scam emails can be done on the
website or by writing emails to the center. It disseminates lot of valuable
information like publishing instances of cyber crimes that use novel
methodologies. They have a dedicated helpline for reporting scam emails and
also a live chat for assistance.
- Royal Canadian Mounted Police
This Canadian law enforcing body
is armed to deal with all complex types of email frauds and people are urged
for reporting scam emails at the earliest. It operates in conjunction with the
Canadian Anti-Fraud Center and solicits all evidence from the victims for
curtailing fraud. Complete details like subject header of emails, date, time of
sending etc. are required to expedite examination. It publishes various fact sheets, crime statistics
and history and tips for remaining ahead of scammers.
- Serious Fraud Investigation Office
This is a subsidiary of the
Ministry of Company Affairs and provides a systematic platform for reporting
scam emails. The mission of the organization is to deploy multidisciplinary
talent to deal with financial frauds. Prompt action is taken on reporting of
scam emails by users with all details required so that it is ascertained
whether the complaint can be lodged with SFIO or it is referred to the concerned
legal machinery.
