Fraud (Physical and Virtual)
Online Fraud
Online fraud is one of the most frequent and financially damaging crimes of the new millennium. The frequency of these offenses are staggering and can damage someone’s financial profile for many years and can in some cases bankrupt an individual.
The network of individuals which target seniors and other targets are highly sophisticated, global, and very hard to track. These individuals belong to organized crime networks with highly sophisticated techniques and were created only for the purpose to gather personal data which can later be sold to fraudulent parties or used for their own purpose.
Money wiring services and online banking are prime targets for these individuals. Due to jurisdiction issues, privacy laws, lack of precedents, and bogus online identities, these criminals are hard to locate and therefore it is difficult to recover the missing funds.
What is online fraud?
Online fraud is a crime in which the criminal develops a scheme using the internet to take advantage of a person by using misleading information or concealment of information. Online fraud results in millions of dollars lost each year. There are many different types of online fraud that people can fall victim to. They include but are not limited to: charity donation fraud, cheque fraud, credit card fraud, inheritance fraud, loan scams, lottery scams, online shopping fraud, and work from home scams.
Tips to prevent online fraud:
- Don’t open emails from senders you don’t know
- Monitor your account activity closely and watch for any unusual activity
- Change online passwords every 60 days
- Beware of emails with a sense of urgency for example messages like “Update now before we close your account”
- Fraudulent emails typically have poor spelling and grammar
- Keep your anti-virus software up to date
- Beware of emails offering you a prize
Click here to read an article about how a British Columbian senior was defrauded.