Season For SCAMS
According to the Internet Crime Complaint Center, a joint initiative between the FBI and the National White Collar Crime Center, Americans lost $198.4 million to Internet fraud in 2006, an increase of 8 percent from 2005. The number of scams reaches its highest in the months leading up to Christmas Day, when online shopping is at its highest, Teixeira said. Scammers prey on the fear that gifts will not arrive on time or a problem with an account will keep shoppers from using it when needed. Online frauds constantly are evolving the ways they steal information, scam people out of their money or just wreak havoc, said Marc Fossi, manager of security response at Symantec Corp., a computer software company. This means Internet users have to be aware of those changes as well.