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Online Scamming
Rachelle Case
The amount of business conducted on the Internet is vastly growing. While the Internet promotes economic growth, there are pitfalls that go along with this. More and more money is exchanging hands online, which opens the doors for scammers. At any given moment, there are numerous scams affecting a lot of people. Scams can involve the ‘overpay and refund’ scheme, online dating, social network sites, online auctions, and ticket resale. The online world has changed the way business is conducted and has created ethical dilemmas.
“The Golden Rule” is to “do unto others as you would have them to unto you” (Ghillyer 7). Online scammers do not follow this rule. They aim to cheat people out of money and don’t care who is hurt in the process. I highly doubt these scammers would want others to con them out of their own money. Online scammers operate under their own rules, which have little regard for the welfare of others.
Recently, the number of scams being conducted has vastly risen. When the economy worsens, people become desperate to make money and see opportunities to scam others as a way to lessen their hardships. The number of scams increased by 33 percent from 2007 to 2008, and the complaints of scams this year are coming in numbers that will shatter records (Lipka). Failure to deliver products and auction frauds are the top two categories of frauds. On average, a scam victim loses around $931, but the average check fraud victim loses $3,000 (Lipka). In this worsening economy, people need to be extra careful and be on the lookout for scams.
A popular scheme is the ‘overpay and refund’ scheme. This happens when a seller on eBay or Craigslist receives a check for too much from a buyer, so the buyer says the made an error and asks the seller to wire the excess amount back to them. The original check turns out to be bad, and the seller loses the money that was wired to the buyer. A woman in Melrose sold a collection of patches on Craigslist for $350 and received a check for $3,650; the scammers get away with it because they work out of Nigeria or Africa and the money is out of the country before it can be recovered (DeMaina).
It’s a well-known fact that a majority of people on online dating sites lie, but there are some who are worse than others. Honest users of these sites have to be extremely cautious because scammers have started using these sites as a new method of taking advantage of people. They court their targets for months, romance them, and seem like a great person. After a while, they need help cashing their checks or they need money so they can visit. These scams are called “419” or “advance-fee” frauds (“Scamming Online Lovers”). The scammer usually sends flower or chocolates, and these gestures make their targets more susceptible to following their emotions instead of their rational thoughts.
It’s not even safe to trust your ‘friends’ in the online world. Scammers are also using social networking sites to manipulate others. They will hack into the accounts of others and convince the account holder’s friends to loan them money. Because they believe their friend is asking for the money, they agree to help. A scammer hacked another person’s account and claimed to be stranded in London, and they got away with $900 (“Greed”). This can be avoided if you talk to your friend personally on the phone before giving any money. Don’t always trust your ‘friends.’
Online auction scams are one of the most popular scams and scammers are constantly thinking of new ways to cheat people out of money. One way is to sell an item cheaply to steal bank account details, and the item turns out be worthless or the item never shows up. Another way is for the seller to sell the product outside the auction site by saying that the highest bidder dropped out and that you were the next highest bidder. The person pays for the item but never receives it and there is no record of the transaction. On the flip side, buyers can scam the sellers of items. They will enter a low bid and a high bid on a different account; the high bid will be withdrawn, so the low bid wins. These crimes cost consumers over $265 million dollars (Said). Buyers and sellers of online auctions need to be cautious because the scams are constantly changing and will be different in the near future.
Unauthorized ticket resale is a controversial topic because some feel it is ripping off people and others feel it is a legitimate business. Ticket scalpers often sell tickets for two to three times their face value. Long gone are the days where ticket scalpers loiter around the area of the event to sell tickets. Nowadays, they use eBay, StubHub, and Craigslist. By using the Internet, ticket scalpers can sell to a lot more people than previously. There is no federal law against the resale of tickets, and each state has their own specific rules regarding this issue. However, the legality of the practice does not mean it is ethical.
There are two sides to issue of ticket scalping. Proponents feel that the practice is a secondary market that brings the theory of supply and demand into balance; an event with high demand will command a high price. They argue that people who are willing to voluntarily pay high prices should have the option of doing so. On the other hand, opponents of the practice feel that there are few tickets for those who want to purchase them legitimately because ticket scalpers monopolize the supply of tickets. Another concern is that tickets bought online from scalpers may be counterfeit.
To the dismay of many, online ticket scalping is common. There have been cases where bands have scalped their own front row tickets to increase their profit margins; another case involves scalpers who sold free passes to the White House and were arrested (“Ticket Scalping”). Recently, I bought Taylor Swift tickets on eBay for almost three times their face value. While I think ticket scalping is unfair, I really wanted these tickets and did not have an opportunity to get them before they sold out.
The conflict of individual versus community deals with the impact of one’s choice on one individual or a wider group (Ghillyer 29). Ticket scalpers, whether they think about it or not, face this type of conflict. Their choice to resell tickets impacts the community because people who wish to buy tickets to an event may not be able to if the scalpers have already bought all the tickets. Those people are forced to either succumb to the scalpers’ high prices or to forgo the event.
More and more business is being conducted over the Internet. Unfortunately, this gives online scammers many more opportunities to take advantage of others. Examples of scams are the ‘overpay and refund’ scheme, online dating scams, social networking scams, auction sites, and ticket resale. It is very important to be cautious when exchanging money over the Internet or you may be a scammer’s next victim.
Works Cited
DeMaina, Daniel. “Check Twice: Selling Items Online Leads to Scamming in
'Overpay and Refund’ Scheme.” Wicked Local. 2 May 2007. 16 Apr.
2009 <http://www.wickedlocal.com/melrose/homepage/x301605763>.
Ghillyer, Andrew. Business Ethics: A Real World Approach. Boston:
McGraw-Hill, 2008.
Greed is the Most Reliable Emotion, Even on Social Networking Sites.” Scam
Types. 27 Jan. 2009. 16 Apr. 2009 < http://www.scamtypes.com/
greed-is-the-most-reliable-emotion-even-on-social-networking-sites.html>.
Lipka, Mitch. “As Economy Worsens, Complaints About Internet Scams Increase.”
Boston Globe. 5 Apr. 2009. 16 Apr. 2009
< http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2009/04/05/
as_economy_worsens_complaints_about_internet_scams_increase/>.
Said, Carolyn. “Online Auction Scams Soar.” San Francisco Chronicle. 2 Feb.
2005.16 Apr. 2009 < http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/
2005/02/02/COMPLAINTS.TMP>.
“Scamming Online Lovers.” On-Line Dating Survival Guide. 16 Apr. 2009
< http://www.waningmoon.com/dating/index.php?scams>.
“Ticket Scalping: An Introduction to the Legalities.” Essortment. 2002. 16 Apr.
2009 < http://www.essortment.com/hobbies/ticketscalping_sbil.htm>.