Greetings WOW Members and Web Professionals Everywhere!
If you’re like me, you’ve probably wondered about the size and scope of today’s Internet fraud stats. According to recently published press reports, U.S. consumers lost $25.5 million in 2008. Naturally, this is of interest to Web professionals as it can have a negative affect on our profession and the customers we serve and we need to be in the loop.
According to the U.S. based Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), 275.284 complaints were registered in 2008. Online auctions, confidence schemes and non delivery of purchased goods accounted for 70% of the total reported crimes. Non delivery of goods spiked last year and outranked online auctions and schemes as the number one culprit of consumer fraud.
The FBI estimates the figures could be much higher and could top 20 billion. The report cited underreporting of such crimes by consumers as a significant issue. According to press sources, “many people don’t report a problem or don’t know how or where to report a problem.”