WHY CON ARTISTS LOVE THE INTERNET

By: Hale Guyer

When it comes to some of the more popular con games, the Internet has become the con artist's favorite hunting ground. An example of how the Internet is used involves phony solicitations. Here’s a comparison between yesterday’s tactics and the current internet version:

The Cost of Doing Business

With free mass mailings, you can bet that the con artist will hook up with many people willing to take a chance on this deal of a lifetime. I know some purists will say there is the cost of the Internet connection, and the computer, but not if this is done from a public computer. Although you can spend money to purchase e-mailing lists (about $40 will get you 3000 opt-in e-mail addresses) you can also use a free downloaded program referred to as a Spider or Leech to crawl around specific web sites and grab every e-mail address they come across. Besides being free, these e-mail search tools can also target a specific audience. If, for instance, I were going to target people in our work at home example, I would capture e-mail addresses from “Business Opportunity” web sites.

Another reason the con artists have gravitated towards this type of solicitation is because of the special problems law enforcement encounters when investigating these cases.

Let’s say only 20% of the law enforcement population really understands how the various frauds and scams work. From this group, about 5% possess the tools and other resources needed to investigate computer crimes. Even with the proper training and tools, this select group must also contend with problems involving jurisdiction, monetary minimums, and the proper application of existing laws.

As you can see, law enforcement is not one of the con artist’s biggest concerns. Even when apprehended, con artists rarely receive any serious time in prison, and are always the first to gain early release. With this in mind, it should come as no surprise to learn that Cyber-crimes of all types are escalating.

Various estimates suggest that the invention of the automobile helped double the national crime rate. Whether or not Internet scams will usher in similar increases in crime remains unknown. While law enforcement struggles to find ways to cope with this problem, you must use ample amounts of caution when using the Internet. In other words, THINK before you act. NEVER allow a stranger to think on your behalf, and QUESTION everything. As noted on the Professionals Against Confidence Crime Web site:

“By making it a habit of checking everything that appears on the Internet before accepting it as fact, you will go a long way towards reducing the many hoaxes, scams, misinformation and sheer nonsense that now permeates the web."

CONTACT THE AUTHOR
Hale Guyer can be reached at:
hale@ogleco.org