The term Internet fraud refers to any type of fraud that uses e-mail, Web sites, chat rooms or message boards to submit fraudulent claims to potential victims, to conduct fraudulent transactions or to transmit the proceeds of a fraud to financial institutions or other related arrangements.
Overview
Internet fraud is committed in several ways. The FBI has people assigned to combat this type of fraud, according to its figures, U.S. business losses due to Internet fraud in 2003 exceeded U.S. $ 500 million. In some cases, fictitious merchants post excellent prices for goods and never deliver. However, this type of fraud is minuscule compared to criminals using stolen credit card information to purchase goods and services.
Geographical Origin
In some cases of Internet fraud originating in the U.S., but a significant proportion of organized Internet fraud seems to come from Africa, especially Nigeria, and, sometimes, Ghana and Egypt. Some originate in Eastern Europe, particularly Romania, and in Southwest Asia. For some reason, many fraudulent orders that seem to come from Belgium, Amsterdam in Holland, from Palestine, and Malmo in Sweden. Lately, some fraudulent orders seem to originate in China.
Popular Products
Fraudsters seem to prefer small and valuable products such as watches, jewelry, laptop computers, digital cameras, and ink cartridges.