I am pondering a major failure of governance to adapt to change. The internet, while a fabulous boon to all, also enables every sort of fraud. There appears to be a little self-policing on the internet—though I do see malefactors shifting from saying they offer an eBay guarantee to saying they offer an Amazon guarantee because eBay appears to police fraud vigorously. However, it appears law enforcement is totally incapable of protecting the public against internet fraud.
I have been trying to buy a car for my wife. I’m a savvy guy and don’t need a dealer so I responded to ads on Craigslist.com In two weeks I’ve seen three scams being perpetrated by advertisers there, maybe a quarter of the ads I’ve responded to. Speaking to my banker today, she said her customers are actually falling for these scams—sending a moneygram to some seller who is supposed to deliver a car (or whatever they’re selling).
I reported the first one to eBay, since they said the vehicle included an eBay guarantee. Within minutes that ad was pulled down from Craigslist. I was very impressed. However, an almost exact duplicate of the ad showed up a day later. The two I encountered yesterday offered nearly the same spiel, but instead said delivery and guaranteed by Amazon. I reported these to Amazon, but 12 hours later the ads are still up. I also ticked the prohibited box on Craigslist, but that didn’t appear to have any effect. Following Amazon’s suggestion, I also attempted to report this to the Iowa Attorney General—and I must say that I got the weakest reply I could imagine. The AG’s office replied that an investigation would take 4 weeks, I wouldn’t hear the outcome, and my complaint would be in the public record (where any hacker could see it and cause what sort of mischief).
The newspapers recently reported an $81 million heist from the Central Bank of Bangladesh, (and a most narrowly averted $1 billion heist) perpetrated entirely by hackers. International Business Times
The unfortunate Nigerian prince, or lottery winner, or crooked bureaucrat memes are now folklore. But analysts report that these scams brought in $9 billion to Nigeria in 2009 alone, about 2% of the Nigerian GDP. Quora Who hasn’t received these? And my inbox is crammed with emails saying my $100 credit with Walmart is about to expire, etc.
There is an explosion of internet fraud. And, as far as I can see, there is no effective law enforcement response. A simple measure could be passed into law to regulate aspects of this, for example, “Advertisers must complete an entry into a central registry to place any advertisement.” And those registry entries would provide a solid identification of the person placing the ad. If they commit fraud, then police have the simple job of going out and rounding them up. Regarding those emails, simply require internet providers to have positive identification from the same or a similar registry before issuing an email address. ISPs would be required to check every outgoing email address against the registry, and then we would have proof who sent that email. It shouldn’t be hard to do. And then we would have accountability. International emails would require registration in the US before the emails could be delivered as well. In short, there should be simple workable solutions to these sorts of mushrooming problems.
Our lawmakers appear to all be tied in knots in partisan battles instead of meeting real needs and challenges of our times. It isn’t serving our public well.
