Phishing scams has been a favourite clincher for many internet users unwary of the traps involved such as divulging personal email and contact details which would inadvertently include providing personal banking details, home, and phone numbers, for potential abusers to commit identity theft.
On a personal favourite of mine is the phishing scams for internet purchases like ebay or paypal. Or for direct purchases using credit card and accessing internet banking services. What seems very real is with the advent of the digital age and the convenience associated with easy access to goods and services there are the pitfalls associated with such modern forms of e-commerce transactions. At the most vulnerable level is the individual consumer whom is considered as the easiest target for the cyber criminal to target.
When an individual becomes a victim of cybercrimes particularly identity theft the costs to the victim are pervasive and are not visibly apparent. The victim is not subjected to violence with an armed hold up whilst being fleeced of everything within their bank account. The cyber criminal is much more subtle and more pervasively sinister in their malicious crime.
Being a victim of a hidden crime does not attract public attention since there are no physical scars and trauma by the victim. If anything the trauma is felt psychologically and emotionally. Like a policeman bashing a suspect without leaving any physical contusion scars on the suspects body within his cell. The cyber criminal leaves no physical traces of their crime except for the loss for the victim's accounts.
As a victim of cyber crime the recourse of action to combat cyber criminals is through government intervention. Law enforcement inter-agencies within Australia work in conjunction in combating cyber crime. With the ever expanding digital age the task of combating cyber criminals is an ever increasing snowball task.
Australian Cybercrime Online Reporting Network (ACORN)
The Australian Cybercrime Online Reporting Network has introduced a digital age form of reporting cybercrime. This has allowed a user friendly access for victims and law enforcement agencies to coordinate cybercrime activities and reporting of such incidents in order to efficaciously combat the escalating criminal spree which has enveloped the digital age world. When law enforcement agencies increase their dragnet capabilities so too do the cyber criminals seek to evolve further in order to get ahead of the game.
On a personal note, as a long time internet blogger and being regularly connected on the social media I have been vulnerable to cyber crime and in particular with identity fraud. The number of Tim Brian Tufuga, or Tufuga Tim Brian accounts exemplifies the cyber bullying which is very salient indeed. In actuality there is only one legitimate individual known as Tim Brian Tufuga in the digital world. The rest are cyber bullies having a jeer at my expense.
Regards.
Tim Brian Tufuga
18th May 2015
Cyber bullied and identity theft victim. Sources:
1. Australian Cybercrime Online Reporting Network, 2015. http://www.acorn.gov.au/
