How to Deal with and Who to Contact About Identity Theft and Other Internet Scams

Innocent people are consistently getting ripped off by internet scams, and even though public awareness has become widespread, it continues to happen to thousands of people on a daily basis. One of the main problems concerning rip offs is that we want to believe that we are being offered a legitimate deal, but the rule of thumb is that if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Many sites, e-mails, and offers look like the real deal, and that is one of the biggest problems as scammers take the time to make them look legitimate so that an unsuspecting person will follow through and possibly lose hundreds to thousands of dollars in an attempt to get a once in a life time deal, or so they think. Internet scammers are confident that they will never get caught as their identity is a mystery, and some of the biggest internet scams have included the Nigeria lottery where you receive an e-mail telling you that you can come into millions if you will assist them by lending your bank account to them for the purpose of making a huge deposit. Of course once this information is handed over, you are completely wiped out of your life savings, and catching them or recovering your money is almost a lost cause mainly due to foreign laws and time differences from dealing with people overseas. Some of the worst internet rip offs occur right here in the United States, and the most recent internet rip offs are internet auctions, and it is also the most reported. The biggest problem witnessed by consumers when dealing with these fraudulent auctions is non-delivered merchandise. Unfortunately many people have to learn the hard way from these internet crimes, but you can fight back. There are many sources available to victims of internet theft, and by reporting them, they may help future victims from being lured into their scheme.

Identity Theft
It is a sickening feeling knowing that someone is running up your credit cards, and posing as you without a second thought of what it is doing to your life, but identity theft still happens quite frequently due to more sophisticated ways of obtaining personal information from unsuspecting victims. Attacker controlled PC’s known as bots or zombies can be used for further attacks, compromising PC’s connected to broadband internet accounts. To date at least 35% of Americans are enticed by fraudulent e-mails aimed at convincing them to give up personal information. Public awareness has caused rip off artists to drop drastically, but the problem very much still exists. The government has quite a few web sites for reporting identity theft, and your first two stops, if it has happened to you should be at http://www.consumer.gov/idtheft/or to fill out a complaint form, go to: https://rn.ftc.gov/pls/dod/widtpubl$.startup?Z_ORG_CODE=PU03

Foreign Scammers
They have absolutely no feelings or remorse when it comes to scamming rich Americans. In fact the Nigerian scams were a sick game made for the purposes of getting rich quick. They have the belief that we are rich, greedy, and easy to fool, and unfortunately to some extent they were right on when it came to scamming millions of people believing their deceitful attempts at raking our bank accounts dry, because before the government cracked down on these hard cases, millions of dollars were already lost in the loop holes of scammers from other countries. The Nigerians claim little responsibility for these vast rip offs as they are extremely sensitive to the “419” crime, but despite their claims these scams still continue. Getting people to report them is a fraction of the problem as they are embarrassed by the fact that they were duped, but it will aid in the fight against them. The best way to avoid these rip offs’ is to be skeptical of individuals representing themselves as Nigerian or foreign government officials asking for your help in placing large sums of money in overseas bank accounts. Simply put, don’t do it! To report this type of crime, go to: http://www.ic3.gov/or http://www.fbi.gov/contact/legat/legat.htm

Plagiarism & Content Theft
If you have ever feared the thought of having your content stolen, you are not alone. Many people do have articles, stories, and web sites hijacked by plagiarists without having the first clue that it’s even been done. Now you can check to see if your work has been used at another site without your permission at these various sites that have attempted to put a stop to plagiarism. Just go to: http://www.copyscape.com/, http://www.findarticles.com/, http://www.fraud.org/, and http://www.plagiarized.com/.

Internet Investment Rip Offs & Scammers
Many of us deal with online investments, and if you want to steer clear of frauds, the facts about a company are essential. You should never make an investment based on an online newsletter, especially if the investment involves a small company that isn’t well known. Investing wisely is the key too not being ripped off, and now you can check out a company’s financial statements and statistics through the EDGAR database. Just go to: http://www.sec.gov/investor/pubs/cyberfraud.htmor http://www.nasaa.org/QuickLinks/ContactYourRegulator.cfm

Work From Home Scammers
We all dream of working in the comfort of our own homes, but how do you know which one of these work at home offers is the real deal? You don’t until it’s too late in most cases. Stay at home moms, students, and the disabled are usually the victims in these popular, sounds too good to be true, rip off offers. The Better Business Bureau claims that after an extensive study of ads claiming that you can make high earnings in a few short hours with little or no experience had no actual substance to them. In fact the consumer receives either nothing, or information that encourages involvement in an illegal scheme or supplies to assemble a product that is virtually impossible to complete. Now you can check on the statistics, reports and complaints from these work at home companies. To file a complaint form, go to: https://rn.ftc.gov/pls/dod/wsolcq$.startup?Z_ORG_CODE=PU01or contact the Federal Trade Commision at: http://www.ftc.gov/ftc/consumer.htmor call 1-800-FTC-HELP.

Reporting Any & All Rip Offs from A to Z
This site allows you to voice your opinion and to report any person or business that has ripped you off. You can also check to see if you have been reported by anyone, and the site offers a keyword search so that you can check on any business or internet service that has been reported in the past. Just go to: http://www.ripoffreport.com/default.asp

Consumers Can Take Action Against Scammers & Rip Offs
You can find just about any company just by searching at this sites alphabetical listing of popular companies. The site is designed for consumers to have access into these companies in the event that a grievance takes place. It lists their address and phone number in most cases. Go to: http://www.consumeraction.gov/corpormain.shtml

Top Ten Internet Scammers
1) Unscrupulous Web Auctions – users purchased items that were never delivered by the sellers, the value of items was inflated and shills were suspected of driving up bids.

2) Internet services – there were charges for supposedly free services and online payments that were never provided or falsely represented;

3) General merchandise – sales of everything from T-shirts to toys, calendars to collectibles were never delivered.

4) Computer equipment and software – sales of computer products were never delivered or misrepresented.

5)Pyramids – schemes in which any profits were made from recruiting others, not from sales of goods or services to the end-users.

6)Business opportunities and franchises – empty promises of big profits with little or no work by investing in prepackaged businesses or franchise operations.

7) Work-at-home plans – materials and equipment sold with false promise of payment for piecework performed at home.

8) Credit card issuing – false promises of credit cards to people with bad credit histories on payment of up-front fees.

9) Prizes and sweepstakes – requests for up-front fees to claim winnings that were never awarded.

10) Book sales – genealogies, self-help improvement books, and other publications that were never delivered or misrepresented.