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This Week's ID Theft / Fraud Tip:

                    Reported Dollar Loss From Internet Crime Reaches All Time High

According to the *2007 Internet Crime Report, the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) received 206,884 complaints of crimes perpetrated over the internet during 2007. Of the complaints received, more than 90,000 were referred to law enforcement around the nation, amounting to nearly $240 million in reported losses. This represents a $40 million increase in reported losses from complaints referred to law enforcement in 2006. All complaints received by IC3 are accessible to federal, state, and local law enforcement to support active investigations, trend analysis, and public outreach and awareness efforts. "The internet presents a wealth of opportunity for would be criminals to prey on unsuspecting victims, and this reports shows how extensive these types of crime have become," said Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) Cyber Division assistant director James E. Finch. "What this report does not show is how often this type of activity goes unreported. Filing a complaint through IC3 is the best way to alert law enforcement authorities of internet crime." Although internet auction fraud was the most widely reported complaint, others cited in the report include fraudulent activity such as non-delivery of purchases and credit/debit card fraud, and non-fraudulent activity such as computer intrusions and spam/unsolicited email. In an effort to raise public awareness, the report also describes the characteristics of commonly reported scams such as those involving the check scams and email spam. *The 2007 Internet Crime Complaint Report is available at www.ic3.gov/media/annualreports.aspx.