As much as the Internet has opened doors to global communication and many other wonderful things, it has inevitably also given the means to criminals that can now have an audience that spans most of the globe. Every year, the FTC issues a report on the complaints they receive regarding fraud. Unsurprisingly, identity theft topped the charts as the number one complaint, followed by many fraud schemes that are popular on the web, such as auctions and cheap software.
What was even more interesting however, is how people are receiving these fraud attempts. Whereas in the past most fraud had to take place via the mail or over the phone, now it is clear that an overwhelming number of attempts are occurring online. Email ranked as the number one choice for fraudsters to try and lure people in, totaling 49% of the attempts that were reported. Websites, in comparison, were number two at a mere 15%.