Search results

This paper examines the issue of fraud on the Internet and discusses three areas with significant potential for misleading and fraudulent practices, namely: securities sales and trading; electronic commerce; and the rapid growth of Internet companies. The first section of the paper discusses securities fraud on the Internet. Activities that violate US securities laws are being conducted through the Internet, and the US Securities and Exchange Commission has been taking steps to suppress these activities. The second section of the paper discusses fraud in electronic commerce. The rapid growth of electronic commerce, and the corresponding desire on the part of consumers to feel secure when engaging in electronic commerce, has prompted various organizations to develop mechanisms to reduce concerns about fraudulent misuse of information. It is questionable, however, whether these mechanisms can actually reduce fraud in electronic commerce. The third section of the paper discusses the potential for fraud arising from the rapid growth of Internet companies, often with little economic substance and lacking traditional management and internal controls. The paper examines the three areas of potential Internet fraud mentioned above and suggest ways in which these abuses may be combated.

The criminalization of online financial fraud is examined by analyzing the existing literature, policies and state statutes within the context of the cybercrime ecosystem. Therefore, this paper aims to investigate online fraud policies within the USA and the prevalence of such incidents to explore the effectiveness of current fraud policies.

This examination explores policies related to online fraud within the USA by defining online financial fraud incidents within the context of the cybercrime ecosystem and analyzing such incidents with routine activities theory to emphasize the current legislative inadequacies with provisional policy recommendations.

This research suggests online financial fraud is not unanimously conceptualized among regulating or criminal institutions. Although federal regulators have governed financial institutions, federal institutions have failed to account for the capabilities of computer-mediated and technological device use (12 USC §1829).

The limited research analyzing the effectiveness of guardianship that prevents or deters internet-mitigated or dependent financial fraud crimes.

Policy recommendations include but are not limited to mandating federal and privatized financial institutions to disclose all fraudulent activity to all stakeholders (e.g. customers and local and federal criminal justice agencies).

This paper provides an innovative approach using a criminological theory and policy framework to examine the prevalence of online fraud and the regulations enacted to counteract such violations.

Research was undertaken to assess the level of fraud and precautions against fraud in Internet auctions. A trial run was also carried out of placing items for auction with eBay and then bidding for them. It is concluded that Internet auctions are severely disadvantaged in comparison to traditional auctions because of their inability to check the quality or provenance of items on offer. The attempts of Internet auction houses to prevent potential fraud have loopholes and can therefore be manipulated of the unscrupulous.The current checks Internet auction houses impose are therefore not enough to eradicate this growing problem. Recommendations are made to a number of di ¡erent stakeholders,such as the government and the auction industry.

Advance fee fraud on the internet is a current epidemic that rakes in hundreds of millions of dollars per year. The advent of the internet and proliferation of its use in the 1990s makes it an attractive medium for communicating the fraud, enabling a worldwide reach. This paper aims to explain how advance fee fraud operates, to examine various cases of recent advance fee‐fraud e‐mails, and to identify methods employed to manipulate victims into compliance based on theory in human behaviour and persuasion.

This study uses six cases of advance fee fraud received via e‐mail by the author between August 2006 and January 2007. The content of these e‐mails was analysed in detail to identify the methods employed to manipulate the behaviour of victims.

Interpretive findings suggest that advance fee fraudsters employ specific methods that exploit the bounded rationality and automatic behaviour of victims. Methods include assertion of authority and expert power, mimicking and referencing persons/organisations, providing partial proof/legitimacy, reasoning, reciprocation, creating urgency, and implying scarcity.

While there is readily available information on advance fee fraud on the internet, especially in the web sites of anti‐fraud organisations, this study suggests a need to inform internet users of the methods employed by advance fee fraudsters.

Considering the current and widespread problem of advance fee‐fraud e‐mails, the information of this paper is important for internet users to improve their capability in identifying fraudulent schemes and avoiding them.

This paper aims to focus on online fraud occurrence in retailing banking sectors both in the UK and China. Online financial transactions bring convenience to individuals dramatically and improve banking service quality efficiently. However, the latest service channel, Internet, has been exploited by fraudsters excessively, standing at a huge monetary loss worldwide.

In aspects of demographic factors, financial activities and IT usage, results would benefit financial organisations and local authorities in strengthening customers’ education and improving policymaking. The fraud occurrence model is empirically tested using quantitative data, and comparison is discussed using qualitative data collected in both countries.

The findings provide solid understanding of customers’ behaviours towards online financial transactions and fraud occurrence internationally. As the main implication, customer education is proposed to benefit financial organisations in both countries. According to the data collection process and the data analysis results, individual customers are aware of banking policies and practices to some extent. Particularly in China, customers’ satisfaction level is relatively lower and service quality is not reasonable in most circumstances.

The research experiences gained from this study suggest a number of areas for future research, particularly the under-researched area of fraud. Rather than approaching the research questions through individuals, there would be much value in working with merchants and financial organisations that are dealing with financial transactions and fraud on a daily basis.

By combining three approaches (demographic factors, financial activities and IT usage), this study is trying to develop a comprehensive and statistical understanding of online fraud occurrences.

Using the Internet to carry out their schemes, fraudsters now have access to the consumers of the world as well as the potential to destroy the image of an entire country. One particular type of Internet fraud, known as the Nigerian money fraud, has become associated with that nation, damaging the brand equity of the country and its region, Africa. The purpose of this article is to discuss the impact that the electronic version of the Nigerian money fraud may have had on the brand equity of Nigeria and Africa and what steps can be taken to diminish these negative effects.

When Peter Steiner published his famous cartoon in The New Yorker in July 1993 with the renowned caption ‘On the Internet, nobody knows you are a dog’, he succeeded in coining within a single cartoon strip the core cause of a multitude of problems that e‐businesses face today. The new communications technologies allow almost anyone to have the ability to deceitfully pass oneself off as someone worthy of trust and reliability for the purpose of personal gain. Conversely, proving or disproving one's trustworthiness to strangers online without specific technologies like public key infrastructure and digital signatures is a near fruitless exercise. While such security technologies are able to resolve identity issues, it has proven to be both difficult and expensive to implement them successfully.

The purpose of this study is to find out if there is a sequence or pattern to digital frauds and whether the openness quotient of any individual has a meaningful role to play in them becoming victims of digital frauds. The legal and regulatory angle of digital frauds and relief measures for social media openness and frauds are discussed to examine the connection between openness, identity data, visibility, vulnerability, digital frauds and social media sharing of information.

This study is empirical and investigative research. Primary data was collected via questionnaires circulated among participants from various age groups to understand the implications of different demographic factors such as age, websites used, profiles created and data shared on the internet, social media and e-commerce websites.

The results exhibit that the openness factor does affect vulnerability and has an influence on the risk and legal component of inclination towards digital frauds.

This research study results in bridging the gap by increasing the level of understanding and awareness in users toward achieving proactive and regulated behaviour and comprehending the violation of various acts of digital frauds and its implications, especially in the Indian banking sector.

This study will be beneficial to all individuals alike in understanding the implications of excessive openness toward digital platforms and evaluating generic and legal solutions to avoid becoming victims of digital fraud.

On 6th September, 2000 the SEC issued a press release accusing 33 companies and individuals of fraudulently using the Internet to make more than $10m in illegal profits by driving up the prices of more than 70 small stocks. The companies and individuals, including a bus mechanic, a car service driver and a self‐chilling can company, boosted the total market value of these stocks by $1.7bn, claimed the SEC, in announcing 11 civil fraud lawsuits filed in federal courts. ‘What used to require a network of professional promoters and brokers, banks of telephones and months to accomplish can now be done in minutes by a single person using the Internet and a home computer,’ SEC enforcement director Richard H. Walker said. Two weeks later, the SEC announced that it had settled an enforcement proceeding brought against a 15‐year‐old stock trader who, operating from a computer in a bedroom in his parents' home, had earned more than $270,000 in profits over a six‐month period by engaging in classic ‘pump and dump’ market manipulation of small over‐the‐counter stocks.

The purpose of this paper is to illustrate the growing problem of cross‐border fraud, assess the structures that have emerged to deal with it, identify weaknesses and make the case for a new international body to lead the fight against cross‐border fraud.

This paper reviews various primary and secondary resources drawn from around the world to assess the current infrastructure for addressing cross‐border fraud.

The paper finds various gaps as well as examples of good practice in the fight against cross‐border fraud. However, to have a meaningful impact it is concluded a new international body is required.

The paper is largely focused upon the English speaking world and the European Union and does not explore the nature and response to the problem beyond these areas, other than in current international led responses.

The findings have implications for national and international bodies in considering appropriate ways forward in creating stronger infrastructures to counter cross‐border fraud.

This paper will be useful to policy‐makers and the law enforcement community in considering options for the future and is the first to advocate a new international capacity to fight cross‐border fraud.