How To Report and Fight On-line Fraud

Each year Internet fraud results in billions of dollars in losses. IC3 report of 2009* shows that victims lost over half a billion dollars to Internet fraud in the U.S alone. This is almost double of previous year's 264 million dollars. This shows that Internet Fraud is exponentially increasing in size each year.

Fortunately the law enforcement agencies are also becoming more savvy and reporting these crimes is becoming increasingly easier.

If you or someone you know has information about an Internet Fraud please report it to:

• Internet Crime Complaint Center
• Local U.S Secret Service Field Office
• Local FBI office
• Your state's Attorney General
• Local Police Department (this is especially important if you believe your identity has been stolen)

Controversy:

There are certain curios aspects of the law which are worth mentioning:

• A 419 scammer may legally contact you to ask for assistance with a financial transaction, curiously enough U.S Secret Service does not regard it as something illegal**
• If a criminal within the United States has caused losses of less than 50,000 dollars FBI will NOT investigate the case***. For an international criminal the amount has to be as high as 250,000 dollars.

* http://www.ic3.gov/media/annualreport/2009_ic3report.pdf
** http://www.secretservice.gov/faq.shtml#faq13
*** http://youtu.be/Exr-cOJ_4Fw