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BustAThief.com - Dealing With Fraudulent Activity

Oct 24, 2008 Business

Fraud over the internet isn’t funny. It is a serious problem, and lately I’ve found myself dealing with these idiot criminals. Since I’m on the topic, I want to get this out of the way first: I don’t care what the media tells you, people who use computers to steal your private information are not hackers. They are simply criminals who use technology to their advantage. Sorry, that’s just a pet peeve of mine. Now, on to the real content.

In the past few months, I have discovered that some idiot has set up a bank account and taken out a loan using my social security number. I found this out totally by accident. It just happens that we use the same bank that I do, and the clerk asked me if I was Mr. [name of criminal]. As luck would have it, that isn’t me. This past week, some other jerk tried to transfer money out of my PayPal account to other random accounts. It didn’t work, but it has definitely caused me a couple of headaches. As a side note, I think I’ve figured out how that scam works. It would appear that they hack multiple accounts and transfer cash to other random accounts, then move it to their bank accounts (which are added to the accounts that the cash is moved to). Anyway, I’m getting off topic.

So my point is this: I’ve been trying to find information on how to report fraud to the proper authorities. It’s been difficult to get the time to gather all the leads I need to in order to hammer these idiots into the ground, legally speaking. Fortunately, I found BustAThief.com. The site is packed with information on scams that can target not just you personally, but your online business as well.

As affiliate marketers, most (if not all) of our business is carried out on the internet. Unfortunately, we put our business security in the hands of people and companies we have very limited knowledge of, let alone their morals. BustAThief.com even has a good article on affiliate fraud, which can ruin your day faster than the Slashdot effect.

From BustAThief.com:

The only way to fight affiliate fraud successfully is to meet the problem head on, with a comprehensive approach. The range of tricks goes from the traditionally unmistakable monkey business such as cookie stuffing, bogus leads, fraudulent credit card usage to the more creative and well executed cons such as posing as webmasters of high-profile websites and changing their name and address just before the affiliate checks are issued.

Fraud is a reality that anyone (not just web entrepreneurs) have to deal with on a daily basis, and there’s no other way to explain it except that it sucks. Fortunately, BustAThief.com is here to help keep us on our toes.