Internet Crime is on The Rise

According to the Internet Crime Complaint Center or IC3 internet rip-offs and scams are up 33% compared to last year. Bringing the total loss from these crimes to $265 million. Which brings 2008 to $26 million more than 2007. On average, an individual victim lost about $931.00.

The top three most frequent complaints were:

• Merchandise not delivered or payment not received
• Internet Auction Fraud
• Credit/Debit Card Fraud

Other scams include:

• Confidence Frauds also known as Ponzi Schemes
• Check Fraud
• Nigerian Letter Fraud
• Identity Fraud

One of the most popular identity fraud scam during 2008 was the emails that appeared to be fromt the FBI.

The report said that about 77.4% of perpetrators of internet fraud were men. About half live in either California, New York, Florida, Washington, Texas or the District of Columbia.

More than 55 percent of those who filed complaints were men.

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