Knowing what is Internet fraud can be very important.
Nowadays, the Internet has become a significant part of the lives of millions
of people. Everyday, you use the Internet to communicate with others or use it
for work. However, there are some people, who want to take advantage of the
Internet to perform fraudulent activities. They are the so-called “fraudsters”,
who are most commonly known as online scammers. They are the ones making the
lives of Internet users miserable. If you want to fight against these
fraudsters, you should know what is Internet fraud and take appropriate action,
when necessary.
What Is Internet Fraud in the Real Sense
If you want to truly know what Internet fraud is,then you
should review actual incidents that have been reported by the victims. This is
a very good source of information, where you can learn a lot of things about what
is Internet fraud in general. Learning from the actual experiences of other
victims will open your mind and will teach you how to cope after becoming a
victim of Internet fraud.
1. Call Tag Fraud
This
happens usually to credit card holders. Fraudsters seem to have their own way
of hacking into a database and stealing your personal information, especially
your credit card details. Call tag fraud has been around since 2005 and has
continued to victimize thousands of people worldwide. In this type of Internet
fraud, the fraudsters use your credit card details to purchase items online.
The fraudster will pose as you upon purchase, so that the seller will not doubt
the legitimacy of the transaction. After purchasing the items, the fraudster
will receive the tracking information from the seller. Using this information,
the fraudster will call to inform you that there has been a mistake in
delivering the items to your address. Since you did not actually purchase the
items, you naturally don’t doubt the caller. The scammers will then use another
shipping company to pick up the items and deliver them to their own address.
When your credit card bill arrives, you might be in for a shock.
2. Phishing
This is
another Internet fraud that has been going around for many years. In this
fraud, the scammers pose as trusted institutions, or individuals with the
intention of stealing private information from you. The information wanted by
these fraudsters is usually passwords, your email address, credit card
information, pin, nationality, birthday etc. This information is very sensitive
and you will really be in trouble if someone else gets hold of it. You might
become a victim of Identity Theft, putting your reputation on the line.
Knowing what is Internet fraud will do you a lot of favors. You can avoid becoming the next victim of scammers by being well aware of their current schemes.
This is because you will immediately sense something suspicious, since you
already know how these fraudsters play their games.