The National Trial Lawyers
  • Home
    • Meet Our Team
    • Contact Us
    • Mission & Goals
    • FAQ
  • Webinars
  • News
  • Membership Directory
    • Top 100 Map – Civil Plaintiff
    • Top 100 Map – Criminal Defense
    • Top 40 Under 40 Map – Civil Plaintiff
    • Top 40 Under 40 Map – Criminal Defense
  • Top 100
    • Civil Plaintiff Officers / Executive Committee
    • Criminal Defense Officers / Executive Committee
    • Benefits
    • About
    • Top 100 President’s Message
    • Diplomat
    • Membership Renewal
    • Member Profile Updates
    • Top 100 Badge
    • Media
  • Top 40
    • Civil Plaintiff Officers / Executive Committee
    • Criminal Defense Officers / Executive Committee
    • Top 40 Under 40 Trial Academy Bootcamp
    • Benefits
    • About
    • Top 40 President’s Message
    • Membership Renewal
    • Member Profile Updates
    • Top 40 Badge
    • Media
  • Specialty Assoc
    • About
    • Shop
    • Officers
    • Membership Renewal
    • Member Profile Updates
    • Media
  • Nominate
    • Top 100
    • Top 40
    • Specialty Association
    • Trial Lawyer Hall of Fame
    • Trial Lawyer of the Year
    • Trial Team of the Year
    • America’s Most Influential Trial Lawyer
    • America’s Most Influential Law Firm
    • Lifetime Achievement Award
  • Shop
  • Magazine
    • A-List
  • Education and Networking Agenda
    • Trial Lawyers Summit
      • Summit Sponsors
    • Top 40 Under 40 Trial Academy Boot Camp
    • Mass Torts Made Perfect
    • The Lanier Master Class 5.0 Trial Academy 2021
    • Webinars
  • Hall of Fame
    • Trial Lawyer Hall of Fame

Beware the FBI’s list of the Top 4 Worst Internet Scams

Posted on June 26, 2015 by Larry Bodine

Each year the FBI reports the top Internet frauds across the country, and the latest is the 2014 Internet Crime Report. The Internet scams are detected through the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center, IC3.

  • In 2014, IC3 received 269, 422 complaints with total financial losses over $800 million.
  • Of the complaints reported, 12.5 percent came from California, followed by 7.5 percent in Florida.

fbi scamAlthough all Internet crimes are not reported, the IC3 streamlined several types of internet crimes that were trending in 2014. Below are the most common schemes and schemes that increased within the past year.

Auto Fraud

In a typical auto scam, a consumer finds a great vehicle for a low price. Some signs of fraud include a story about relocating, a sense of urgency and multiple emails with pictures. The seller will provide a website or phone number to a third party for payment. The seller may even tell a potential buyer the car is being stored at an offsite warehouse, waiting to be shipped. According to the FBI’s annual report, more than $22 million was lost due to auto fraud among victims over the age of 50. Anyone who has searched for a car on a well-known auction or classifieds site may have seen a fraudulent advertisement.

Government Impersonation Email Scam

The complaints in this category are people impersonating government agencies and high-ranking government officials through email. The scammers will pose as a government or law enforcement officer to persuade unknowing victims to provide their personal information. Some email signs include emails using high profile names or titles, such as Attorney General or Legal Affairs Agent.

Intimidation/Extortion Scam

These scams arrive in spam emails demanding payment of a debt or surrounding property to avoid physical harm, criminal prosecution or public exposure. The FBI states the most common extortion scams are cash advance loans or short-term loans with very high interest rates. Some signs to be aware of among others are:

  • Calls or emails for a delinquent loan
  • Request for immediate payments
  • Unknown sender has accurate personal information
  • Failure to provide specific details about the loan

Virtual Currency Schemes

Since 2009, the term Bitcoin has been floating around in many areas. Bitcoin is a form of crypto-currency created digitally, distributed and exchanged like the US dollar or euro. The victims reported paying for mining equipment or contracts without delivery of products, victims shipping high performance computers to crypto-mining centers and losing the computers, equipment being stolen, damaged in transit, or not receiving any crypto-coins. Victims also express concern about virtual wallet hacking, then being blackmailed to receive their money back. The crypto-currency schemes include other digital currencies, Litecoin and Peercoin.


NEW TERMS IN COMPUTER THEFT

  • Click-jacking – Concealing hyperlinks beneath legitimate clickable content which, when clicked, causes a user to unknowingly perform actions, such as downloading malware, or sending personal information to a website. Numerous click-jacking scams have employed “Like” and “Share” buttons on social networking websites. Research other ways to use your browser options to maximize security.
  • Doxing – Publicly releasing a person’s identifying information online without authorization. Caution should be exercised by users when sharing or posting information about themselves, family and friends.
  • Pharming – Redirecting users from legitimate websites to fraudulent ones for the purpose of extracting confidential data. Type in an official website, instead of “linking” to it from an unsolicited source.

Posted in Blog, Consumer Protection

Comments are closed.

News Categories

Subscribe to Blog and VFJ via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog, the Voice for Justice and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Read about other Top Jury Verdicts

Sterling Bancorp Agrees to $12.5 Million Settlement with Oklahoma Police Pension & Retirement System

Sterling Bancorp Agrees to $12.5 Million Settlement with Oklahoma Police Pension & Retirement System

Sterling Bancorp Inc. agreed to pay $12.5 million to settle a class-action lawsuit filed by the $3.1 billion Oklahoma Po[Read More...]
Boy Scouts of America and The Hartford Enter $650 Million Settlement for Sex Abuse Claims

Boy Scouts of America and The Hartford Enter $650 Million Settlement for Sex Abuse Claims

After years of legal dispute, The Hartford has entered into a settlement agreement and release with the Boy Scouts [Read More...]
Playland Operator Reaches $12 Million Bankruptcy Settlement

Playland Operator Reaches $12 Million Bankruptcy Settlement

The Westchester County Board of Legislators last week approved a bankruptcy court settlement with Standard Amusements regardi[Read More...]
Santa Fe Agrees To a $36M Settlement With the Firms Responsible For Constructing Its Water Project

Santa Fe Agrees To a $36M Settlement With the Firms Responsible For Constructing Its Water Project

The board of the Santa Fe city and county’s joint Buckman Direct Diversion agreed to a $36 million settlement last wee[Read More...]
Health Net Repaid $97.2M To Settle an Investigation Confirming It Over-Billed the U.S. For Veterans Care

Health Net Repaid $97.2M To Settle an Investigation Confirming It Over-Billed the U.S. For Veterans Care

A Rancho Cordova health insurance company has repaid $97.2 million to settle an investigation into inflated claims submitted [Read More...]

#LegalNews

@@TheNTLtop100

Contact Us | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy

Attorney information and content provided on this website is provided for the benefit of members of The National Trial Lawyers and as a public service by Legal Associations Management, Inc. The website and all data are the property of Legal Associations Management, Inc. Data, including without limitation attorney information and content, on the site may not be mined, sold, or used commercially for any purpose without the explicit written consent of Legal Associations Management, Inc. This site may not be accessed by any automated program for extracting data for any use. By accessing and using the site you agree that you will not develop, support or use software, devices, scripts, robots, or any other means or processes (including crawlers, browser plug-ins and add-ons, or any other technology) to scrape data or otherwise copy profiles and other data. Unauthorized use or attempted unauthorized use of this system may subject you to both civil and criminal penalties.