Internet fraud: Avoid becoming a victim

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Bikky Khosla | 06 Mar, 2012
The advent of the Internet has transformed the world of business. But with this bliss, comes a curse: internet fraud. While today's businesses are increasingly relying on this revolutionary technology, scams have also found a comfy platform on the Internet, and as a result, the number of online-fraud complaints is rising every day -- across the globe.

Internet frauds cost entrepreneurs a lot of money every year, and studies have revealed that in the corporate world, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are more likely to become the victims than larger companies, as they usually fall short of ideas to ward off fraudsters. According to a recent media report, cyber-attackers are now targeting more on SMEs as they usually lack any precautionary measure to counter such attacks. It is why all small businesses need to be extremely alert to such frauds and scams.

Unfortunately, many a SME doesn't seem to care about internet frauds. Often we are unaware, under-informed, or ill-prepared to identify and fight it off quickly. The size of internet fraud is very big, but in the absence of an adequate reporting system, the miscreants often go unnoticed. And also, normal Internet consumers like you and me find it difficult to believe that someone would hack our e-mail accounts to ask for financial assistance from our friends, or a "businessman" would cheat us to earn a few hundred bucks.

Sometimes we are very busy, and give our confidential information without thinking much. That's not good. In one such incident, a business owner I know has recently been scammed. He received an e-mail asking him to click on a link to view some products and quote for them. The link asked the user to log in using any e-mail account used by him, and when the instructions were followed, the fraudster immediately got away with the submitted information. This is one of the most common methods used by "identity thieves" to collect valuable user-information for spamming purposes, and whenever you think you're a victim of it, change your password immediately to ensure no or less damage.

Thus, Internet frauds can happen to anyone; it can occur in chat rooms, e-mails, social networking message boards, or on websites; there are many different types, including some popularly known fraudulent schemes, such as lottery scams, Nigerian scams, online auctions, fake cheques, credit card scams, and many more; and finally, they usually promise money, prizes, lucrative business deals, or simply ask you to provide sensitive personal information. The best way to protect yourself is to avoid such baits.

In the Internet world, coming into contact with fraud is inevitable and fighting this menace is not an easy battle. But we can't cease to trade online. It is why there is an ardent need for all SMEs to secure their businesses by acting smart, and implementing preventive measures. They need to take this potential threat seriously, fight it back, and spread awareness.

We would like to welcome our readers to tell us their experiences about Internet frauds. Provide your feedback and share with us your stories, tips and anecdotes. It may help someone.