INTERNET AND CRIME

Just like the different form of physical crimes (murder, arson, robbery etc.) that we hear about on a regular basis, there are many virtual crimes that takes place over the Internet.

How many of you are aware of cybercimes?  

If you are not aware, here are some of the information on the most common Internet crimes that takes place on a regular basis. These are only few. But, keep in mind that they are not limited to the list below.

The past decades have brought a massive increase in the availability of electronic resources. With the increased availability has come a new form of criminal activity that takes gain from electronic resources, namely computer crime and computer fraud. Today, these new forms of crime are developing and pose a new and lasting challenge to law enforcement agencies at all levels including how to prevent, investigate, and prosecute these crimes. Law enforcement agencies from local all the way to the federal level are beginning to establish specific units dedicated to handling computer-related offenses. But currently there is no uniform method to define or address computer crime and computer fraud. Technologies such as cellular phones, iPad, desktop computers, the Internet, websites, have added a whole new aspect to crime. Many categories of crimes, such as fraud, theft, organized crime rings, prostitution, harassment, stalking, and child pornography have been fused into the digital world. Offenders find new opportunities to perpetrate their crimes using this new digital medium.

Internet piracy is better known form of theft in a digital world. Piracy is the act of replicating or reproducing copyrighted material without consent or approval. For the past few years, private and law enforcement organizations have been putting a concentrated effort on stopping this offense. Organizations such as the Recording Industry and the Motion Picture routinely engage in both civil as well as criminal lawsuits to curb piracy. The Motion Picture alone estimates its potential revenue loss because of piracy to be over three billion dollars a year.

Internet fraud is another most quickly growing forms of computer crime. Internet fraud is also commonly stated as Computer fraud. Basically, Computer or Internet fraud is any type of fraud scheme that uses one or more components of the Internet-such as chat rooms, e-mail, social network, or world wide web to present fraudulent transactions to financial institutions or to others connected with the scheme. There are multiple forms of Internet fraud. One form of Internet Fraud is the Nigerian e-mail fraud. In this particular crime, the victim receives e-mail from someone in Nigeria, who happens to be the heir to millions of dollars. The e-mail recipient is made to believe that they are to receive some of the fortune but in exchange they need to help them with a lawyer’s fee of several thousand dollars in order to claim the money. The people who fall prey to this crime send their money through Money Gram, Western Union and others sources thinking that their luck changed. They believe that soon they are going to get thousands of dollars but they never receive their expected fortunes.

Another form of Internet crime is spam mail. Spam mail is the dispersal of bulk e-mail that offers recipients deals on products or services. The purpose of spam mail is to trick people into believing that they are going to receive product or service at a low-price. For example, the cost of the Mac Book Pro is $1200 in the market. The spam mail leads them to believe or gives them an offer that they will receive the Mac Book Pro for $500 if they order within certain minute or hour. People actually fall into this trick. However, before the deal can occur, the sender of the spam asks for payment, the recipients’ credit card number or other personal information. The customer will enter their payment information on the computer and never receive the product nor hear from the spammer.

Individuals all over the world use the Internet to commit numerous amounts of crimes, some of it is not known to public and they cannot even imagine that it is capable of being done electronically. As a result, it is challenging to establish the full scope and nature of Internet crime. The absence of suitable empirical evidence creates an intimidating challenge to precisely establish the course of Internet crime rates, and the psychological, physical and financial results on Internet crime victims.

References

Aung, Y. (2013, May 19). Photo Credit: Internet Piracy . Retrieved January 14, 2016, from Prezi: https://prezi.com/ve-1csnrvh7m/internet-piracy-ye-aung/

Elgin, C. (2014, January 16). Photo Credit: Fraud Knowledge & Prevention. Retrieved January 14, 2016, from William Vaughan Company: http://blog.wvco.com/tag/internet-fraud/

Emaze. (n.d, n.d n.d). Photo Credit: The Internet Age And... Retrieved January 14, 2016, from Emaze Amazing Presentation: https://www.emaze.com/@AORFQFFR/The-Internet-Age-and-Cybercrime(1).pptx

Kunz, M., & Wilson, P. (2004,16-February). Computer Crime and Computer Fraud. Retrieved 2016, 12-January from montgomerycounty: http://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/content/cjcc/pdf/computer_crime_study.pdf

Schweber, A. (2012, July 11). Beward Pop-Up Software Updates While. Retrieved January 12, 2016, from Absolute Software Corporation: http://blogs.absolute.com/lojack-for-laptops/2012/07/beward-pop-up-software-updates-while-traveling/

UPENN. (2010, April 23). Photo Credit: Junk E-mail and Newsgroup Postings, a.k.a. "spam". Retrieved January 14, 2016, from Information Systems and Computing, University of Pennsylvania: http://www.upenn.edu/computing/security/advisories/spam.php