Case Study: Email Scam
Today, cybercrime is an extremely common type of criminal activity. It can be defined as any crime carried out using technology, with the computing device being the target of the attack or used as a weapon or accessory to the crime (Brush et al., 2021). An email scam and bank fraud are evident in the electronic correspondence presented by the recent victim of this type of crime. The perpetrator enticed the victim with the promise of a large sum of money, prompting them to give up their personal information. They transferred funds from the victim’s savings account upon receiving the information. The received email can be recognized as a scam due to poor grammar, lack of proof, and explanation of legal reasons why the money needs to be transferred to the victim.
Common Cybercrimes
There are many types of cybercrime that the public should be aware of. The most common crimes are business email compromise (BEC), identity theft, ransomware, spoofing, and phishing (Federal Bureau of Investigation, 2021). The BEC scam exploits the fact that many businesses conduct business online. The offender can use either spoof the company’s email address or convince the victim that money should be wired to a new address (Federal Bureau of Investigation, 2021). Identity theft includes stealing personal information or persuading the victim to share it. Meanwhile, spoofing and phishing trick individuals into voluntarily giving up sensitive data to a site they believe are trustworthy, for example, their bank (Federal Bureau of Investigation, 2021). In addition, ransomware and malware can be installed on the victims’ devices to steal personal data.
Appeal to Victims
Although many people are familiar with various types of cybercrime, some still fall victim to it. Online scammers are proficient in technology and human psychology and know how to appeal to different people. Specifically, cybercriminals have perfected two elements that help them convince victims to surrender their personal information: credibility and persuasion (Jochims, 2019). Credibility is achieved through the format of spoofing and phishing emails and texts being indiscernible from real correspondence from banks or other institutions (Jochims, 2019). Meanwhile, the persuasion element lies in knowing the easiest organizations to spoof (Jochims, 2019). Furthermore, criminals exploit people’s unawareness of cybercrime trends and general ignorance about cybersecurity/ Thus, perpetrators easily appeal to victims to share sensitive data by creating credible and persuasive tools.
Pursuing cybercrime
Cybercrime differs from other types of criminal activity and is more challenging for law enforcement to pursue. The main obstacle is the anonymity afforded to the perpetrators by technology. Users can employ anonymizers, proxy servers, and anonymity networks to hide their IP address and, consequently, physical location (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, 2019). Even if a digital device is located, it is difficult to attribute a crime to the owner or primary user (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, 2019). Furthermore, it may be challenging to identify where the crime occurred and what jurisdiction it falls in (Maillart, 2018). Nevertheless, local, state, and federal agencies in the U.S. work in conjunction. For example, the FBI heads several Cyber Task Forces operating locally (Federal Bureau of Investigation, 2019). Thus, despite the jurisdictional challenge, cybercrime is being actively pursued by law enforcement agencies.
Impact of Cybercrime
Cybercrime has a severe negative effect on individuals and businesses in the community. Thus, individuals may lose substantial amounts of personal funds or deal with their identity being exploited online and offline. Furthermore, the anonymity of the offenders leads to difficulty in apprehension and, consequently, persecution. It can also lead to the victims of cyber identity theft being unable to prove their lack of involvement in fraudulent transactions. In addition, many businesses are impacted, as security breaches lead to corporate value and trust in the company decreasing (Brush et al., 2021). Business ventures can also sustain direct costs from cyberattacks and lose revenue, leading to fewer working places being available to the community.
Strategies to Address Cybercrime
Today, every individual should be able to recognize cyber threats and react to them appropriately. The first strategy to consider is education on common types of cybercrimes and safety measures. Individuals are recommended to be careful with their personal data and remove it from major data brokers to avoid identity theft (Forbes Technology Council, 2019). The use of public Wi-Fi should also be avoided, and users should set up long, random passwords to all accounts, set up account alerts, and enable two-factor authentication (Forbes Technology Council, 2019). Users would also benefit from double-checking future transactions and refusing to share information with third parties. All individuals are advised to review what institutions require personal data and what measures are installed for its protection.
References
Brush, K., Rosencrance, L., & Cobb, M. (2021). What is cybercrime? SearchSecurity. Web.
Federal Bureau of Investigation. (2019). The way forward: Working together to tackle cybercrime. Web.
Federal Bureau of Investigation. (2021). Cybercrime. Web.
Forbes Technology Council. (2019). 14 simple strategies for consumers to avoid cybercrime. Forbes. Web.
Jochims, K. (2019). Criminal appeal and secure virtual behavior. Relock. Web.
Maillart, J. (2018). The limits of subjective territorial jurisdiction in the context of cybercrime. ERA Forum, 19(3), 375-390. Web.
United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. (2019). Cybercrime module 5 key issues: Obstacles to cybercrime investigations. Web.