Abstract
The development of computers and the Internet has inevitably led to the appearance of new crime types. Digital Revolution has opened a wide field of opportunities for fraud and counterfeiting in the global network. The purpose of this research is to analyze the legal implications of the First and Fourth Amendments as they relate to computer-related investigations. The research provides statistical information about fraud and counterfeiting, examples of both these types of computer crime, and arguments for criminalizing or not criminalizing ethical or unethical behavior in the Internet.
Fraud on the Internet
Fraud is defined as a situation when an offender illegally induces a victim by lies and unfulfilled promises to act for his or her benefit. The nature of fraud remains unchanged throughout the centuries, while the methods are enhancing with the new technologies. In the Internet fraud is most commonly encountered in online shops, auctions, and lotteries. The offenders send messages advertising their fake goods to victims. After the payment they usually disappear or report of unexpected problems with delivery. The fake lotteries ask their victims to pay a small fee to claim the prize. Scammers can use different means to receive the payment. They contact victims by Email, on their site in the Internet or in social networks. The slide presents the current fraud statistics (Chen, Kung, & Tsai, 2016, p. 60)
Counterfeiting on the Internet
The development of digital technologies and the appearance of online shops have created a wide range of opportunities for the creators and distributors of counterfeit products. Numerous sites offer software, electronics, clothes, and accessories from famous brands at incredibly low prices. The counterfeiters use original images and descriptions of the products from the official sources to mislead consumers into buying their copies. Even when people want to purchase authentic brand items, they can easily mistake them with counterfeit (Kasriel-Alexander, 2015). Consumers usually receive counterfeit messages via Email that are similar to the notifications from famous brands. In other cases, they purchase counterfeit products directly from sites where they are sold. The surveys of global consumer trends reveal that the majority of consumers do not want to buy fake items. Nevertheless, brand owners should enhance their protection against counterfeit. The slide presents the current counterfeiting statistics (Chen, Kung, & Tsai, 2016, p. 61)
Example of Online Fraud
Online shopping fraud is a growing problem, and it becomes even bigger with the enhancement of big marketing platforms. Just before Christmas 2017, three sellers EVILLE, xkuehns, and HJSGHUY post their items descriptions on one of the leading online shopping platforms, Amazon.com. They receive orders from users from all over the world and inform that their items will be shipped in three or four weeks. People agree to pay the full price of their purchases because they trust in Amazon’s Guarantee (Kasriel-Alexander, 2015). While the customers wait, the fraudulent sellers use the Amazon’s payment cycle to receive money. After that they disappear to create new accounts under different names. The customers start to send negative feedback, and Amazon have to pay refunds for undelivered purchases. The trend is growing stronger in 2017 and affects thousands of people around the globe. Amazon platform makes it incredibly easy for sellers to disappear with money because they get banned only after they receive negative feedback. The company is unable to take legal action against fraudulent sellers from some countries, including China.
Example of Online Counterfeiting
Online counterfeit often goes hand in hand with fraud. In recent years, Amazon has gained reputation of a growing market for counterfeit products (Forgione, 2016). In 2013, a nurse Jamie Whaley has started to sell her patent bed-fastener BedBand. The product is so good that it has reached $700,000 in annual sales. Now the sales of this product are falling rapidly on Amazon because Chinese counterfeiters use the success of BedBand to sell their fakes. They outnumber Jamie on the market and make her reputation drop. People hesitate to buy her products in fear of getting a harmful counterfeit. Jamie has to search for other retailors because Amazon cannot take legal action against Chinese sellers. As in the case of online fraud, the situation is developing drastically with thousands of counterfeiters appearing daily on the market platform.
Ethical and Unethical Behavior
While Amazon cannot take legal actions against fraudulent and counterfeiting sellers on the market platform, their actions remain unethical and must should be criminalized. Frauds use their right of online sellers to post descriptions of fakes or non-existing products and disappear with money. Counterfeiters outnumber other sellers by distributing thousands of cheap low-quality products. Sellers of original products lose their reputation because people fear to get fakes and do not buy their items (Taylor, Fritsch, & Liederbach, 2014). The ethical attitude of Amazon to all sellers harms the interests of customers who wait for their purchases. In the majority of cases, the refund is not enough to solve the problem.
First and Fourth Amendments
The First and Fourth Amendments are crucial to the computer-related investigations. With the development of the Internet it becomes possible to express any thoughts and share them with all people around the globe. Frauds and counterfeiters use their legal rights to mislead people into buying their fakes or non-existing products (Friendly, 2013). Internet users get confused by the abundance of available information and easily believe in everything appearing on the web. Moreover, they post all information about themselves in social networks and in online shops profiles. Frauds and counterfeiters use this situation as a perfect possibility to gain all personal data of any person around the globe (Joh, 2016). Therefore, the development of the Internet helps people to violate the First and Fourth Amendments.
Conclusion
The results of this research show that online fraud and counterfeit are growing problems in the society. People have little or no legal support against crimes on the Internet because offenders tend to disappear quickly without leaving any traces. At the same time, the development of social networks makes it easy to gain all information about a person from his or her accounts. Frauds and counterfeits use their rights to distribute any information they want and their unethical behavior harms the interests of online shop customers and sellers. The development of the Internet and social networks makes it incredibly easy for people to violate the First and the Fourth Amendments.
References
Chen, Y. F., Kung, H. Y., & Tsai, C. W. (2016). The effects of risk preferences on consumer purchasing counterfeit goods online. International Journal of Customer Relationship Marketing and Management, 7(3), 50-63.
Kasriel-Alexander, D. (2015). Top 10 global consumer trends for 2015. London, UK: Euromonitor International.
Friendly, F. W. (2013). The good guys, the bad guys and the First Amendment: Free speech vs. Fairness in broadcasting. New York, NY: Random House.
Joh, E. (2016). What big data means for the Fourth Amendment.
Forgione, J. M. (2016). Counterfeiting, couture, and the decline of consumer trust in online marketplace platforms. NYL Sch. L. Rev., 61, 195.
Taylor, R. W., Fritsch, E. J., & Liederbach, J. (2014). Digital crime and digital terrorism. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall Press.