My friends in the web hosting business have recently informed me that the big problem this year (2004) is security and fraud. I have read that currently the F.B.I. receives over 9,000 complaints per month pertaining to bogus email and websites. Why is this happening? Are just a few 'bad apples' doing it, or is it the result of a lopsided world economy where the underprivileged are finally striking back like the infamous Robin Hood? Whatever your moral view, I've got the strange feeling it stems from a growing unconscious greed in the social consciousness of modern society. People worship money, not spirituality or love. Am I wrong?

Technically, the main problems at the moment are 'phishing' or 'spoofing' scams. This is where the use of Spam or junk-email is used to lure computer users to look-alike websites where they are deceived into giving out personal information and financial data. Often these emails are coming from trusted sources where hackers have altered links to send you straight into their 'pockets'. The Internet user is duped into thinking that they are visiting a trusted website page, when actually it is an excellent copy of the original. There might be only one tiny change in the web address that is often not easily recognizable.

Identity theft is where multiple tricks are employed to make you fill out fake forms on fake sites to get all sorts of information that can then be used by thieves to steal money or get free Internet access. Anything from credit card numbers to account information, passwords, billing data and personal phone numbers and addresses have been stolen and used for criminal purposes.

These tricksters, few or many, are wizards at finding loopholes in mail systems of legitimate sites. Just go to the site entitled www.crimesofpersuasion.com and read some articles about a few of the more famous scams that have been busted or that are still in circulation. There's a story about a 17-year-old boy who was arrested with over a million dollars in misappropriated funds hidden in a Costa Rican casino account! Smart kid, but how smart is he really if he got

About the Author: Jesse S. Somer, M6.Net, http://www.m6.net , Jesse S. Somer is a concerned human hoping to one-day witness humanity living in a peaceful and egalitarian world.