INTERNET FRAUD

The internet offers endless opportunities, such as information seeking, shopping, social media, and more. Criminals are all too familiar with this and often utilize the internet to take advantage of people.

These are the Top Ten Internet Scams:

• Online Auctions
• General Merchandise – Misrepresenting or not delivering goods purchased
• Fake Check Scams – Consumers using fake checks to pay for items, and asking to have money wired back to them for overpayment
• Foreign Money Offers – Deceptive promises of large sums of money, if consumer agrees to pay transfer fee
• Lotteries – Asking winners to pay a fee before claiming their prize
• Advance Fee Loans – Requesting a fee from consumers in exchange for promised personal loans
• Phishing – E-mail pretending to represent a credible source, asking consumers for their personal information
• Prizes/Sweepstakes
• Internet Access Services – Misrepresentation of the cost of internet access and other services, which are often not provided
• Investments – False promises of gains on investments

Use These Tips to Avoid Becoming a Victim of These Scams and Their Schemes:

• Pay for purchases with a credit card, because you are able to dispute the charges if necessary
• Make sure you are dealing with a legitimate company or organization, whether visiting a website or responding to an email. You may also check with the BBB (Better Business Bureau) to be sure, www.bbb.org.
• Watch out for risky downloads, only download from websites you know and trust
• Do not give information to people promising large sums of money for your cooperation. Offers that seem too good to be true, usually are scams
• Make sure the transaction is secure before making credit card payments
• Do not share personal information over a public Wi-Fi network