NCJ Number
186573
Date Published
January 2001
Length
16 pages
Annotation
This paper discusses the extent of fraud in the digital age, the mechanics and types of such fraud, regulatory responses, and preventive measures.
Abstract
As the Internet continues to expand in terms of the range of products and services that it offers, and as the number of users continues to increase, so the opportunities for dishonesty and fraud have increased; for example, the Office of Fair Trading in Britain and its counterparts in 22 other countries identified 1,159 potential "get rich quick" schemes being advertised on Internet sites in 1998. The mechanics of digital-age fraud involve paper-based payment systems, direct debit systems, electronic funds transfer systems, card-based systems, electronic cash, and identity-related fraud. Types of digital-age fraud are advance fee schemes, non-delivery and defective products and services, and unsolicited and unwanted goods and services. The three common ways of responding to digital-age fraud are hard regulation that uses the law, soft regulation that uses codes of practice, and strategies based on fraud prevention. Ways in which these strategies have been used are described in this paper. After identifying and bringing to justice the perpetrators of fraud through the Internet, the author suggests that consumers who transact business online must be informed about the risks they face and the nature of misleading and deceptive practices. Certification and notification systems that permit consumers to identify businesses that have been found to be trustworthy seem to provide the best option. Technology must be developed to ensure that certification services are themselves unable to be manipulated.