I want to be very clear about who can be the victimized by fraud. It’s everyone. In the last few blog articles, I have focussed on the elderly as victims of fraud and the fact is that fraudsters do target the elderly. But that is just one group. Fraudsters will look for possible fraud victims at all age levels and all socio-economic groups.

Con artists are very crafty. They won’t waste time on people who are not easily convinced. They will prey on people who they can manipulate to believe them without any question. They look for the needy. They seek out the desperate, the lonely and the greedy. I have seen fraud victims old and young, rich and poor, smart and not so. It does not matter.

The younger generation is internet savvy. They use the internet to talk, shop, communicate, make new friends and explore the world. However, many youth have been victimized by fraudsters who use the Internet as a tool to commit fraud.

A very simple example of this is to set up a phoney web site that advertises items to sell that appeal to young people. Of course, the site asks for the person’s ID and credit card information. What a perfect tool for a fraudster to collect data to manufacture counterfeit credit cards or commit identity theft.

On my next blog, we will talk a little more about phoney web sites (also know as spoofed sites) and how they can be used to grab sensitive personal information.

Have you had any experiences with phoney or spoofed web sites? Let’s hear about it.

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