FBI Report Lists Internet Scams To Watch Out For in 2010

Washington, DC, United States (AHN) – Online crime complaints showed a “hefty” increase with a jump of 22.3% from 275,284 in 2008 to 336,655 complaints in 2009 according to the annual Internet Crime Report issued by the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI).

The report listed the top five categories of offenses reported to law enforcement during 2009: non-delivered merchandise and/or ? payment ranked 19.9%; identity theft, 14.1%; credit card fraud, 10.4%; auction fraud, 10.3%; and computer fraud (destruction/damage/vandalism of property), 7.9%.

E-mail scams that misused the Bureau’s name represented the highest percentage (16.6) of complaint types submitted last year to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), according to its report.

The report cautioned against the following ongoing scams in 2010:

? A new spin on the “hit-man scam,” in which individuals received an e-mail from an “assassin” who claimed he was going to kill them, but who said they would be spared if they sent money because someone in his organization knew a member of their family and pled for their lives.  ? Spam or pop-ups offering free astrological readings, but only after birth-dates and birthplaces were provided. Victims were then enticed into purchasing a full-fledged reading with the promise they would find out something favorable was about to happen. Of course, they never received the reading. ? Economic stimulus scams, where victims received a recorded phone message directing them to websites where they could apply for government stimulus money after first entering personal information and paying a small fee. Needless to say, no stimulus money was received. ? Fake pop-up ads for anti-virus software that warned of the existence of computer viruses but actually downloaded malicious code when clicked.

The total loss linked to online fraud in 2009 was $559.7 million, which was up from $265 million in 2008.

Of the 336,655 complaints submitted to IC3, 146,663 were referred to local, state and federal law enforcement agencies around the country for further consideration.

The vast majority of referred cases contained elements of fraud and involved a financial loss by the complainant, according to the report.

In those complaints in which perpetrator information is provided, 76.6% were men and half of those resided in either California, Florida, New York, the District of Columbia, Texas or Washington.

The majority of reported perpetrators (65.4%) were from the United States. A number of perpetrators were also in the United Kingdom, Nigeria, Canada, Malaysia and Ghana.

Among complainants, 54% were male, nearly two-thirds were between the ages of 30 and 50, and a little over one- third resided in California, Florida, Texas or New York.

The majority of complainants were from the United States (92%). However, IC3 received a number of complaints originating in Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, India and Puerto Rico. 

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