Fraud 2007: Interesting facts from IC3’s year report

It's interesting and maybe a little bit strange but in comparison to women men are more affected by online fraudsters. It became known from the new report of the Internet Crime Compliant Center.  According to statistics last year Internet Crime Compliant Center (IC3) has received more than 206,000 complaints from which it became known that men lost more than women on average - $765 compared to $552 for women, which is US$1.67 to every $1. John Kane, the IC3 research manager thinks that the reason of this great difference is that men usually buy more expensive item, such like electronics.

The number of victims increases with the age. So, the older people are the more money they "grant" to fraudsters. Speaking in language of figures, victims about 20s lost $385 on average against an average $760 lost by people over 60.

From the same report it became known that leaders of crime are online auctions, where fraudsters overprice their merchandise and customers discover that they receive not the merchandise they have paid for. 

Another category that follows online auctions is non-delivery of goods.

In general, half of online crimes involve items that cost less than $1,000, and one-third involves amounts in the range $1,000-5,000.

The total amount of losses due to Internet-fraudsters last year was $240 million, up $40 million from 2006. The only propitiatory fact is that the total number of complaints received in 2007 is lower for the second year in a row. So, in 2007 the IC3 Web site logged just under 207,000 complaints against more than 231,000 logged in 2005.

IC3's report also contained a list of top 10 countries by perpetrators. The leading positions were occupied with the USA, the UK and Nigeria. China that has been named as the source of many online attacks last year even did not entered this list.

  Aynny, reporter of Ecommerce Journal