Dear John,
Nice to see you again.
There is something like Internet police - each country's police has
usually a section that deals with fraud, in the context of Internet
fraud. For example, if you're a US resident, or have been defrauded by
a US company, you coul contact the FTC (Federal Trade Commission):
<http://www.ftc.gov/>
You could file a complaint here:
<http://www.ftc.gov/ftc/consumer.htm> and also read their explanations
on various types of fraud, online and offline.
In the UK, you could read the advices of the Northumbria Police
How can I protect myself against internet fraud?
<http://ww1.northumbria.police.uk/web/wms.nsf/AllPage1ContentDocs/FAQ00453>
They also provide the following details:
"The Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) works in partnership with the
police, Internet Service Providers, telecoms and mobile software
providers and the government to minimise the availability of illegal
internet content, particularly child abuse imagery.
Their 'hotline' (an online form) can deal with reports of potentially
illegal internet content on websites, newsgroups and other online
groups.
Contact Details
5 Coles Lane
Oakington
Cambridgeshire
CB4 5BA
Contact - N/A
Email - admin@iwf.org.uk
Telephone - 01223 237 700
Fax - 01223 235 921"
(See: <http://ww1.northumbria.police.uk/web/wms.nsf/AllPage1ContentDocs/PAR00023>).
In Australia, too, there are police programmes against fraudsters,
here, for example, from the Queensland police:
<http://www.police.qld.gov.au/pr/program/eCrime/default.shtml>
To sum up:
- Yes, usually when it sounds too good to be true, it is.
- If you make business or send money to an organisation or a site,
make sure of their reputation. It is better to bid on eBay, where
there are some tools (limited, though) against fraud, than in other,
non reputable sites.
- Not only that a site has https doesn't mean it is safe, there is
also a phenomenon of "spoofing": faking to be another homepage
(usually PayPal, eBay or a Bank), hoping that you'll fill your credit
card details, thinking it is that site. Therefore, if you receive such
an email, go directly to the site (and not to the link they provided)
and you'll know the truth. See more in an answer I gave about spoof:
Here's an Absolutely Impossible Question, so Who's Going to Have a Go?
<http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=253410>
I hope that answered your question. Be very careful out there with
giving away your personal details!
Please contact me if you need any further clarification on this answer
before you rate it. |
Clarification of Answer by
politicalguru-ga
on
18 Mar 2004 09:20 PST
John,
"Every company which has a secure website has a certificate issued by
a certificate authority to let Internet users know that the website is
genuine, and therefore secure." - you could set your browser to see
the security level on https:// sites; and check it while clicking on
the lock in your browser.
In order to do view the certificate, you must view the certificate of
the page by clicking on the key pictogram on the bottom right side of
the page. The certificate must contain a correct website address - the
address of the site in question; and the issuer of the certificate
(the most popular is Verisign). You could also set your browser (using
internet options ---> security) to ask you every time there is an SSL,
so you could see the certificates.
In the site itself, there supposed to be a note on security - either
just titled "security", or under the "help" section (as it is in
Amazon).
There are sites that try to warm of fraud, but for every site that
tries to warn, there are 100 new sites...
see:
http://www.antifraud.com
http://www.anti-phishing.com
http://brightmail.com/bmi-af.html
http://www.carbuyingtips.com/fraud.htm
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