A Persad, owner of a procurement management business in San Fernando, is convinced the problem of Internet fraud exists in T&T. "I know several guys who sent money to buy cars from Japan off the Internet and never received those cars." Persad said. "Their efforts to contact the supplier proved futile. They lost tens of thousands of dollars." R Maraj, an information technology specialist operating in east Trinidad, feels the same. He said with the explosive growth of the Internet and e-commerce, people falling prey to savvy online criminals was becoming all too familiar in T&T.
"A friend of mine purchased a laptop over the Internet and lost all of his US$900. Another friend purchased some books from a Web site purporting to sell romance novels. He never received those books. He lost US$450."
Maraj said both Web sites appeared legitimate. Internet fraud refers to any type of fraud scheme that uses one or more components of the Internet, such as e-mail or Web sites, to present fraudulent solicitations to prospective victims, conduct fraudulent transactions, or transmit the proceeds of fraud to financial institutions or others connected with the scheme.
Take protective measures
Graeme Suite, manager, media relations and corporate communications, Telecommunications Services of T&T (TSTT), confirmed that Internet fraud is a growing problem in T&T. "In TSTT's experience, we have had instances of a modem call back scam where viral software causes the victims dial-up Internet connection to place long distance calls to numbers which charge a premium rate per minute," he said. "We have also had instances of persons doing denial of service attacks and distribution of spam e-mail, which congests the Internet and makes it difficult for customers to use their Internet service."
According to Suite, Internet fraud can take many forms:
�2?give the perpetrators control of a victim's Internet service
�2?cause the victim to incur expenses that they are not aware of
�2 gain unauthorised access to private information which the criminals then exploit for financial gain
To minimise the incident of Internet fraud, Suite said TSTT uses a variety of filters to identify and eliminate spam before it gets to customers. He said the company uses firewalls to block content and Web sites that may pose a threat.
Suite said users are advised to install and maintain updated anti-virus software and a firewall on their computer systems to protect themselves against fraud. "We also recommend that users do not open e-mails from unknown sources, neither should they reply to such e-mail nor forward it to others. "Also, be very careful about software downloaded from the Internet. Downloads should only be done from trusted sites and sources."
ID theft through Twitter, Facebook?
Riyad Khan, a system engineer employed with Illuminat T&T Ltd, noted that with the proliferation of social Web sites, such as Twitter and the ever-popular Facebook, more people were logging onto the Internet daily, providing online criminals with the opportunity to work their fraudulent scams. While Khan believed Internet fraud was not yet a major concern in T&T, he said comprehensive measures should be implemented to keep it from becoming "out of control." Khan said Internet marketing and retail type-fraud were potential threats to businessmen. "Consumers should remain vigilant when it comes to using the Internet and avoid online solicitations that may be fraudulent to avoid becoming a victim." "It's an international trend, and like all international trends, identity theft will hit us big–sooner or later."
Beware: identity theft
When it came to the issue of identity theft, Suite said the problem was also rearing its ugly head in T&T. He said, "We have instances where customers' confidential Internet account information is fraudulently solicited so that the account can be exploited." Described as one of the fastest growing crimes in the United States, identity theft is the use of someone's personal information without their consent or knowledge to commit such crime as fraud or theft. "In Trinidad, identity theft is more of a concern than economic fraud. Someone can pretend to be you and hack your e-mail or social network. You need to be smart," said A Persad, a San Fernando businessman. Online criminals try to present fraudulent schemes in ways that look, as much as possible, like the goods and services that the vast majority of legitimate e-commerce merchants offer. In the process, they not only cause harm to consumers and investors, but also undermine consumer confidence in legitimate e-commerce and the Internet.
Statistics
Statistics show that the number of online criminals has increased dramatically within recent times. Last year, Internet fraud in the US increased by 33.1 per cent. Statistics from the Internet Crime Complaint Centre (IC3) showed that from January 1, 2008 to December 31, 2008, 275,284 complaint submissions were received, as compared to 206,884 complaints in the previous year. These reports were composed of complaints primarily related to fraudulent and non-fraudulent issues on the Internet, such as auction fraud, non-delivery and credit/debit card fraud, as well as non-fraudulent complaints: computer intrusions, spam/unsolicited e-mail and child pornography.
Types of Internet fraud
�2 Auction and retail schemes online: Any type of fraud scheme that uses one or more online services to present fraudulent solicitations to prospective victims to conduct fraudulent transactions, or to transmit the proceeds of fraud to financial institutions or to others connected with the scheme.
�2 Credit card schemes: Some Internet fraud schemes which appear to be variations of the online auction schemes involve the use of unlawfully obtained credit card numbers to order goods or services online.
Handling Internet fraud
�2 Be wary. The ready availability of software that allows anyone, at minimal cost, to set up a professional-looking Web site means that criminals can make their Web sites look as impressive as those of legitimate e-commerce merchants.
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�2 Be careful about providing personal data. Don't send the data without knowing more about who is doing the asking. Criminals have been known to send messages in which they may pretend to be a systems administrator or Internet service provider representative to persuade people to disclose personal data.
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�2 Be careful about online communications with someone who conceals his/her identity. If someone sends an e-mail and refuses to disclose his/her full identity, it may be an indication that the person doesn't want to leave any information that could allow you to contact them later.