How seriously are we taking Internet/Credit Card Fraud?

Not very, says James Tall of Tall Networking, a computer consultant to small businesses. A client was recently sucked into a fraud scam and reports some very serious obstacles trying to fix the problems created.

'I consider myself extremely tech savvy, but there was enough plausibility to get me hooked,' said Tall. The client found a job posting on one of the best known internet job posting sites, Monster.com, looking for someone to handle money transfers for internet software purchases to an East European company.

After submitting an application to a professional looking website he was selected and a purchase was made with the proceeds going to his Paypal account. 'The last two emails I got from the company were from anonymous email companies and I got suspicious. I called the person who supposedly made the purchase' the client said. They reported they knew nothing about an internet purchase or the software company involved and he suggested they contact their credit card companies and credit bureaus.

Tall said, 'That's when I started making phone calls and found that there was no one to call.' The local police suggested a call to the FBI, where the local office was closed and the office in the state Capital had an impatient receptionist who suggested an email to the National White Collar Crime Center (www.nw3c.com or www.ifccfbi.gov ). The NW3C web site states they have no investigative authority. The state Attorney General's office had no answer. The US Secret Service said to call the FBI.

Three weeks later, Paypal has reversed the payment, but neither they nor NW3C made any direct contact to discuss what went on.

Tall said, 'At the time this happened, I felt some immediacy in the need to speak with an investigator. Monster must have garnered them hundreds or thousands of applications and many methods could have been used to try and track down the perpetrators.' He thinks that opportunity has been wasted and still doesn't know if anyone has taken his concerns seriously.

With website hosting becoming more inexpensive and site creation tools becoming easier to use, scam artists are able to put up a web of professional looking sites. No longer can we look at a site and say, 'Yeah, that's a real company.'

These are serious crimes and need to be treated as such. A web site with vagaries about who will get the email and who can or can't investigate them is not enough.

1.Congress needs to make someone accountable. Whether it's the treasury department, FBI, or Homeland Security there has to be a manned number to call or email with fast response from people empowered to investigate. 2.Publicize a checklist of what to do, who to call and send this list to all law enforcement agencies. And not just for victims, for people who think they've been recruited to help in the scam as well. In the event of credit card fraud, the card company will want a police report. Local police departments are the front line and should be able to tell people what to do, have a procedure to follow. 3.Use free resources. Internet users want to protect their web. Communicate with them about what to watch for and many of these scams will get stopped early. 4.This is large scale. Check with a local employer to see what kind of response they get for an ad on Monster. A local posting for a job in Albany recently got over 300 resumes, imagine what a national ad for work-at-home jobs must get. Victims working together in a coordinated effort should make flushing out scam artists easier. 5.Speed is of the essence. Scam artists hit and run. The closer to the hit, the better chances you'll have of getting them.

It is time to take this seriously; lets investigate and stop these criminals.

Tall Networking provides computer consulting, network administration and setup, computer repair and upgrade. See my web page for more details at www.tallnetworking.com.

About the author: Tall Networking provides computer software consulting, network administration and setup, computer repair and upgrade. See my web page for more details at www.tallnetworking.com.

Author: James Tall