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The term 'online fraud' refers to any type of fraud scheme that uses email, web sites, chat rooms or message boards to present fraudulent solicitations to prospective victims, to conduct fraudulent transactions or to transmit the proceeds of fraud to financial institutions or to others connected with the scheme. Online fraud is the jurisdiction of the state or territory police if the victim is a not a Commonwealth Government department or a Commonwealth Authority. The Australian Federal Police investigates frauds committed against a Commonwealth Government department or a Commonwealth Authority. In general, state or territory police jurisdiction exists:
in the state or territory where the offender has committed the crime, and in the state or territory where the victim has been defrauded - this includes situations where the offender is located overseas.
Phishing
Phishing involves using a form of spam to fraudulently gain access to people's internet banking details. The term 'phishing' refers to the use of spam e-mails purporting to be from a bank, in this way criminals 'fish' for legitimate bank customer's logon information. Criminals send out millions of these fraudulent e-mails to random e-mail addresses in the hope of luring unsuspecting innocent persons into providing their personal banking details. Typically, a phishing email will ask an internet banking customer to follow a link to a fake banking website and enter his or her personal banking details. If the link is followed, the victim often also downloads a malicious program which captures his/her keyboard strokes including any typed information such as banking login details and sends them to a third party.As well as targeting internet banking customers, phishing emails may target online auction sites or other online payment facilities. Legitimate banks do NOT send such emails to their customers. The AFP works with the financial sector, internet security industries and relevant organisations to investigate crimes associated with phishing emails.
Mule Recruitment
'Mule Recruitment' is an attempt to get a person to receive stolen funds using his or her bank account, and then transfer those funds to criminals overseas. Usually, criminals send out millions of fraudulent job and employment emails to random email addresses, in the hope of involving unsuspecting, innocent persons in their criminal activity. The AFP advises that you should ignore and immediately delete any such emails. If you have received money in your bank account, transferred or attempted to transfer money overseas under these circumstances, please contact your financial institution immediately. Depending on the situation, it is possible that people who agree to participate in such 'jobs' may be prosecuted.
Depending on the circumstances, people engaged in the laundering of stolen funds may be prosecuted. Investment and Fund Management companies should also be aware that organised crime groups also appear to be utilising B-Pay to transfer stolen funds from victim accounts to accounts held by the management companies. Accounts are often held in false names or the result of an identity takeover. Stolen funds are then transferred from the managed fund accounts to an alternate account where the crime groups withdraw cash at a branch. Investment companies should be aware of this methodology and audit transactions to prevent the loss of funds.
Scams
'Nigerian letter' or '419' scams, as well as 'lottery' or 'Spanish lottery' scams, attempt to lure victims into a type of fraud known as an 'illegal advance fee'. They typically arrive via email. Criminals send out millions of these fraudulent spam emails to random email addresses in the hope of enticing someone to respond. Although the stories in these scams vary widely, after an initial exchange of conversation or emails with the victim, they all usually ask victims to provide bank account or personal details in order to receive a fictitious financial windfall. The promised windfall may be lottery winnings, a huge inheritance, a multi-million dollar bank transfer, etc. While the windfall payment is never made, victims pay large sums of money to cover various false costs and fees. As a general rule, we recommend that you apply the standard 'physical world' test to any online proposition: if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. You can learn more about scams at www.scamwatch.gov.au.
Spam
Is unsolicited commercial messages sent via email, SMS, MMS and other, similar electronic messaging media. They may try to persuade you to buy a product or service, or visit a website where you can make purchases; or they may attempt to trick you into divulging your bank account or credit card details. The Australian Communications and Media Authority
(ACMA) is the appropriate Government Agency to approach regarding any specific enquiry or complaint about spam. They can be contacted atwww.acma.gov.au. The AFP works cooperatively with relevant agencies in Australia and overseas to reduce the incidence and impact on the global community of such activity.
General advice
If you receive a suspect email, the best course of action is to delete it immediately. Do not follow any links, or reply to the sender. By following a link, you may accidentally download a 'Trojan' or 'key logging' program, which could compromise your security. By replying, you run the risk of receiving more emails from this source.
Identity theft
A large part of online crime is now centred on identity theft which is part of identity fraud and specifically refers to the theft and use of personal identifying information of an actual person, as opposed to the use of a fictitious identity. This can include the theft and use of identifying personal information of persons either living or dead.