Introduction
Internet cheating can take many forms due to the advanced technology. The presence of ecommerce has increased the number of fraudulent deals in the internet. Prior to establishment and utilization of internet technology for commercial purposes, cheating on the internet involved social crime.
However, with the increasing number of transactions in the internet, fraudsters are taking advantage of the situation. Liars are also establishing relationships and propagating plagiarism over the internet. These vices, which are all facilitated by the internet, fuel a debate on whether the internet is more harmful that it is useful.
Plagiarism
Plagiarism is the act of assuming another individual’s work without due consent. This vice has been present among people throughout history. However, the advent of the internet has worsened the situation since people, especially students, plagiarize other people’s work in the internet and present it as authentic academic work (Whittaker, 2011).
Due to the complexity and the size of the internet, it is difficult to track down plagiarized documents. Furthermore, the act of plagiarism has been made easier since the web contains information in almost all disciplines.
Students in academic institutions who post their genuine original work on the internet risk almost certain plagiarism by other students. Another factor that is fuelling internet plagiarism is that internet content is free for most of the websites (Smith, 2008).
Some websites are offering papers for coursework at schools for money. These websites encourage plagiarism and make it seem like a normal practice. The trend of getting academic information from sites in exchange for money is slowly becoming an accepted way of doing coursework at major academic institutions. This is a worrying practice in the academic realm.
Relationship Cheating
Some of today’s relationships concerning couples were started using some form of internet connection. Development of numerous social sites has facilitated communication between total strangers.
Through conversations and exchange of personal information, these relationships develop. Most relationships are developed in these sites without any physical meeting of the people in the relationship (Zeʼev, 2004).
In most of the relationships, people present their exaggerated personalities. There is a tendency of people in internet relationships to lie about their economic or social status. In addition, people also lie about their physical attributes such as height or appearance. The misrepresentation of personal information in the internet by an individual is intended to impress the other party in the relationship (Loeser, 2009).
However, arrangements for physical meetings often reveal that the other party has been lying over his or her attributes. This kind of cheating is difficult to prevent since the details of information shared between the parties in a relationship are usually private. In addition, there are no proper laws that govern the relationships established over the internet.
Often, pedophiles and other criminals on the internet prey upon minors. Young people may be goaded to share their personal information over the internet. If the other party has intent to harm the child, he or she may use this information to track down the victim (Lane, 2006).
Despite this pervasive nature of internet relationships, some people are advocating for them, effectively igniting a controversy over the legitimacy of the social sites and the relationships themselves.
Internet Fraud
The main problem with internet fraud is that it is dynamic and keeps changing. The methodology of the fraudsters metamorphoses every day once their tactics have been discovered. Internet fraudsters began by directly selling nonexistent commodities to their unsuspecting victims.
After a while, people became aware of the con artists on the internet and exercised caution when dealing with internet transactions. Later, some of the fraudsters started running ponzi schemes on the internet (Wells, 2010). They offered attractive interest rates for anyone willing to invest in their nonexistent entity. Some of these schemes are still in operation in countries were the awareness of such schemes is low.
Recently, extracting money directly from people has become difficult. Consequently, the fraudsters are turning to methods that are more deceptive. One of the most common approaches used by the fraudsters is a business deal offer. Some of the fraudsters request assistance in sealing some business deals. A certain proportion of commission is due to be paid to the victim after the transaction is completed.
However, the documents for transaction are likely to be fraudulent, with the intention of obtaining money from the bank of the victim. The victim may be paid for the commodities with a bouncing check, or the victim could be a channel for illegal money transfer. However, the internet remains a powerful tool in trade, and it is difficult to separate it from ecommerce.
United Arab Emirates Losses Hit 612 Million Dollars
Online crime has serious implications on some countries. The United Arab Emirates is the latest favorite operating base for such fraudsters. This country suffered a loss of 612 million dollars last year due to internet fraud (Shane, 2011). However, most of the losses were due to resources used to curb the vice.
About a third of the losses were money stolen directly from the victims of internet fraud. Worldwide cybercrime cost the world economy close to four hundred billion dollars, which is greater that the value of major illicit drugs on sale around the world. UAE’s response to internet crime has been slow, while most of its adult population has fallen victim to cybercrime (Shane, 2011).
MENA Group Inc
Recently a website christened MENA group inc. was used to swindle money from unsuspecting internet surfers. The site would convince a surfer to reveal details of occupation. Armed with the details, the fraudsters would then create an attractive business offer for the surfer. If the surfer decided to seal a deal with the owners of the site, the transaction would go on normally.
However, when it was time for payment for commodities sold by the surfer through the internet, a fake check would be issued by the fraudsters for payment into a bank account belonging to the internet user.
Later, the check would bounce, and the owners of the website would be inaccessible (Bobbear, 2012). The owner of this site has used this ploy for some time. However, the fraud stopped after the activities of the owners became public. Fraudulently acquired money from the public has never been recovered.
Conclusion
With the increasing reliance of business activities on internet, some people are taking advantage of the meteoric expansion of ecommerce to swindle online salespersons and customers.
In addition, people are forging relationships with each other based on false information. Plagiarism also presents another rising negative trend facilitated by the internet. All the three vices are quickly rising due to the enhancement and spread of electronic technology.
References
Bobbear, I. (2012). MENA Group Inc. scam. Money Laundering and Reshipping Fraud. Web.
Lane, M. (2006). Cyber Relationship: Cheating or Not? – Yahoo! Voices. Web.
Loeser, M. (2009). Is an “Online” Relationship Cheating? – Yahoo! Voices. Web.
Shane, D. (2011). Cybercrime ‘costs UAE $612m’ – Web – News & Features – ITP.net. ITP.net – Middle East Technology News, IT News Portal, Information Technology & Product Reviews. Web.
Smith, W. (2008). Plagiarism, the Internet and student learning: improving academic integrity. New York: Routledge.
Wells, J. T. (2010). Internet fraud casebook: the World Wide Web of deceit. Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley & Sons.
Whittaker, Z. (2011). College plagiarism on the rise: Blame the web, or blame the student? | ZDNet. Technology News, Analysis, Comments and Product Reviews for IT Professionals. Web.
Zeʼev, A. (2004). Love online: emotions on the Internet. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.