When we delete our profiles are we really ever offline? Can we ever fully be offline even if we tried? This is an unsettling thought. This information that is out there leaves us vulnerable to other people receiving our information. And if they want to get this information? Trust me it’s not that hard. Hackers who commit Fraud are very smart. They know exactly what they are doing and how to do it. And people like me, who don’t think very much about just throwing out your email to random websites, ads, and clothing stores. This could lead to fraud. How? You are about to find out.
These con artist start by putting out a simple ad. “Work right from home and make tons of money!” You click on the ad because that sounds great right? You just have to fill out some simple information. Your name, email, age. This seems harmless right? That’s how they pull you in. You start to give this simple information and that opens the door for you to just say “okay my address not a big deal”. Then they ask for your card. “But only 100$ to sign up and start working now in an hour!” You say okay.. you are hesitant but you say okay. And boom they are in. They make little payments until you notice, and when the money is out they throw it away. The sad part of all of this is we don’t have the technology to track these people. Most cyber crimes can’t be tracked all the way through. If they are in another country, that’s when it gets even more complicated. Most people who commit cyber crimes do not get caught. And in today’s day and age do you want police officers taking care of the people who are shot on the street, robbing banks, and so on. Or sitting at a computer trying to track a hacker? We all know the answer and that’s the problem. Law Enforcement needs more employees working specifically on this issue. And working on the technology to stop this.
The most popular way that hackers get in is to use your email. They send a fake email from “Citizens Bank” , or for students your “FAFSA” information. You see this email and it's your bank and it says that you are locked out of your account and they need you to email them your information to make sure it is you. First of all this is a serious problem and your bank would probably call and contact you immediately. That is a red flag. And for your FAFSA information, if there is a problem the school would probably want to see you face to face in their office. Double check with this information and really think about it. Because it is so easy to fall for this trap. Especially in your busy work or school day. Your not thinking and just want to fix all these problems fast so you just send the information to make it go away. Easy right? But no. Taking time to double check could save you from an even bigger mess in the long run. And save your money from being stolen as well. The saddest part of this all is elderly people are the most vulnerable to this. How many people have tried to teach their grandparents how to use a computer? It takes hours to teach them how to work an email. And hours just teaching them how to copy and paste…. but we give them technology because that is normal in this time period. And we want them to experience this technology with us to be able to contact them on Facebook and such. So we teach them a little and then drop the computer or phone or Ipad off. Hackers know this. They feed on people who are less advanced in technology. A case I studied was about a old lady. She lived alone in South Carolina, and all of her family lived in Michigan. She got a phone call one day from someone trying to sell her products. She was not interested but this man stayed on the phone with her for hours. This man had a conversation this old lady about his life and how he had no money and lived on his own. The old lady felt so bad for him and they began to talk on the phone everyday for months. One day this lady bought him a brand new car. This man was a con artist and got a free car out of this women. But what could law enforcement do? This man was her friend in her eyes. This is how clever these criminals are. Cyber crime is not only freud and Identity theft, but a huge issue in today's day is cyber bullying. Cyber bullying is such a big problem right now because of the amount of different social media accounts kids have these days. There are so many options of websites kids can link to.
Samantha Powers
Cyber Crime