Financial Fraud and the Internet
Det. Missy Coyne
Baltimore County Police Department
Goals
• To define Social Networking and it’s dangers
• To be able to identify fraud related crimes and
scams that occur on the Internet
• To discuss Identity Theft and credit card fraud
• To understand the difference between a “breach”
and a “skim”
• To discuss safe practices while using the Internet
Definition
Cybercrime is criminal activity done using
computers and the Internet. This includes
anything from downloading illegal music files
to stealing millions of dollars from online bank
accounts. Cybercrime also includes nonmonetary offenses, such as creating and
distributing viruses on other computers or
posting confidential business information on
the Internet.
Definition obtained from www.techterms.com
How do people access the Internet?
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Internet Service Provider (ISP)
Cell phone
Tablets
Gaming System
– Playstation 3
– Xbox 360
– Wii
What do we get from the Internet?
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Social networking sites
Email
On line chatting
On line gaming
Access to Financial Institutions
Access to Retail websites
What is a “social network site”?
• Social Network Sites are defined as “web-based services
that allow individuals to (1) construct a public or semiprivate profile within a bounded system, (2) articulate a
list of other users with whom they share a connection,
and (3) view and traverse their list of connections and
those made by others within the system. The nature and
nomenclature of these connections may vary from site to
site”. 2007 Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 13(1), article 11.
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Examples of Social Networking
Sites (SNS)
Myspace.com
Facebook
Match.com
Plenty of Fish
– Free Site
• Christian Mingle
Facebook
• Harvard ONLY SNS in early 2004
• Started supporting other colleges but they
had to have university email addresses
associated to those institutions
• 2005, opened up to high school students,
professionals inside corporate networks,
and eventually, everyone.
Dangers of SNS’s
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Cyber stalking
Cyber bullying/ threats
Disclosure of private information
ID Theft
Take over or create pages
Dating Web Site Dangers
• After communicating for a period of time, the
individual indicates they have a friend in another
country that needs assistance and convinces the
subject to send money to the person in the other
country.
• Similar scenario but ask the individual to send
packages to them because they can’t receive the
packages where they are.
Cyber Stalking
• Cyberstalking is the use of the Internet to “Stalk”
someone.
• "Stalking is a form of mental assault, in which the
perpetrator repeatedly, unwantedly, and disruptively
breaks into the life-world of the victim, with whom he has
no relationship (or no longer has), with motives that are
directly or indirectly traceable to the affective sphere.
Moreover, the separated acts that make up the intrusion
cannot by themselves cause the mental abuse, but do
taken together (cumulative effect). Wikipedia
Cyber bullying
• Cyberbullying is being
cruel to others by sending or
posting harmful material or
engaging in other forms
of social aggression using the
Internet or other digital
technologies.
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Center for Safe and Responsible Internet Use
Lack of Laws for Adult
based crimes
Giving your personal
information to
individuals you
haven’t physically
met
Fraud Related Computer Crimes
• Phishing
• Phishing
– Emails or phone
calls that appear
to be from
legitimate
companies
asking for your
information.
Fraud Related Scams
• Jobs
– Reshipping
• Craigs List
– Room mates
– Items
– Vacation rentals
• Other Fraud Scams
RESHIPPING SCAM
• Victims are usually contacted by instant
message (IM) or online personal ads
• Suspects are from African Country
(Nigeria or Ghana). They start “chatting”
and a personal relationship develops
• Eventually they will ask victim to do favors
such as accept deliveries and reship them
to other countries
FOREIGN LOTTERY SCAMS
It’s illegal to play foreign lotteries
in the United States
A Federal Statute prohibits mailing lottery
tickets, advertisements or payments to
purchase tickets in a foreign lottery
Publishers Clearing House
They do NOT call you on the PHONE
Fraud Related Computer Crimes
• Identity Theft and Credit Card Fraud
– Take over account fraud
• Wire Fraud
– Use of Credit card numbers
Identity Theft
• Begins when criminals obtain personal identifiers of
individuals with good credit by:
– Recruiting individuals who have access to other
people’s personal information in the course of their
employment – Collusive Employees
– Stealing documents from businesses that
contain personal information
- Medical records, loan applications, etc.
Types of Access Device Fraud
• Skimming – Theft of account numbers and
track data
• Counterfeit Credit Cards
• Altered Credit Cards (re-embossing)
• White Plastic
• Lost/Stolen/Non-Received Issued (NRI)
• Misuse of Account Numbers
Skimming
“The replication of electronically
transmitted full track data to allow or
enable valid authorization to occur.”
What
areembedded
they within
stealing?
Information
Credit Card Tracks
Credit Card Number
& Name
CVC & CVV
Discretionary (may include
home address or other
identifiers)
Skimmers Capture all 3 Tracks of Information
Breaches
Intentional vs. Unintentional
Sam’s Club vs Target
Breaches vs skimming
Location of transactions
Internet Fraud Prevention
• Don’t answer or open emails from unknown
sources
• Don’t provide your personal information to
someone you don’t know
• If it sounds too good to be true…it is
• Look for secure websites….https:// when
conducting on line purchases
• Check your financial statements regularly
Internet Fraud Prevention
• Use Anti virus and firewall protection to
protect your system
• Don’t download software from unknown
sites
• Use secure passwords for websites
– Letters and numbers (characters if permitted)
– Change often and don’t duplicate
Questions?