Computer Crimes

Computer Crimes

Computer Crimes are on the rise in the state of Oklahoma with three of the most common being identity theft, credit card fraud, and computer hacking. A confused caller was having troubles printing documents. He told the technician that the computer was saying that the computer ''could not find the printer.'' The user had even tried turning the computer screen to face the printer, but his computer still could not 'see' the printer.

Identity Theft

Instances of identity theft have increased as the willingness of lenders like issuers of credit cards to extend credit without physical human contact, the ability to transact sales and other business at a distance (online and via telephone), and the availability of personal information, and its volume held by third parties, has increased. Credit card scams are three most common identity theft case reported so protect sensitive information and when at the ATM cover your pin and if there is a line ask the person behind you to step back.

When doing transactions on the internet verify that the site is secure and remember the name of the sites bank are what the name of the transaction will be called on the bank statement. If online banking is available from your bank check the account weekly, 70% of identity theft is detected by the victim and victims who do this through electronic monitoring suffer less than 1/8th that of the one who reply on paper. Identity theft is the number one computer crime in Oklahoma City. Their were over 6,000 complaints in the state of Oklahoma in 2005 and 484 in OKC alone, Edmond and Tulsa are not far behind with over 300 cases. Nationally Oklahoma is 28th in the country for identity theft case reported. A few techniques for obtaining identification that most identity thieves might include: Stealing mail, rummaging through rubbish (dumpster diving), stealing personal information in computer databases, and infiltration of organizations that store large amounts of personal information.

Credit card fraud

Do not give account information on a cell phone use a house phone if possible, and do not give your pin number over the phone if some one ask you for your pin(personal identification number) over the phone report that person immediately because they are jeopardizing your information and it could be a scam. Persons that commit credit card crime largely go unpunished and repeatedly victimize consumers and businesses. The Secret Service handles crimes involving the US money supply; they have a limit of $2,000 before investigating each crime. Most credit card criminals know this and keep purchases from any one business below $2,000. With credit card crime occurring across state lines, criminals often are never prosecuted because the dollar amounts are too low for local law enforcement to pay for extradition.

U.S. Federal Law can hold the cardholder victim responsible for up to $50, but the merchant victim is held responsible for 100% plus research and investigation fees levied by the banks. Merchants risk losing merchandise or services, as well as the research, and investigation fees charged by the banks. Merchants in high-risk industries like unattended automated fuel pumps or Internet sales, anticipate a certain amount of credit card fraud, and set prices accordingly. These higher costs are passed onto the consumer. Some merchants believe the high revenue generation by the banks from the crime victims; reduce the incentive for the credit card banks to implement procedures to reduce credit card crime. However, the companies which collect these fees are not capable of dictating fraud prevention policies to the rest of the world.

When telemarketers call verify that they are legit if you are skeptical about the information do not give any account information until you fully understand the terms and conditions of the sell. Some other types of fraud are Mail Non-Receipt Fraud and Chargeback Fraud, mail non-receipt fraud is what happens when a new credit or debit card is intercepted in the mail and the used. Chargeback fraud is where a credit card company