A just-released cybercrime report curated by fraud prevention firm Seon provides a snapshot of the most common forms of cybercrime in the United States. And the findings are quite striking.
The most common type of cybercrime in the US is phishing and pharming. Phishing and pharming refer to the fraudulent practice of luring people into revealing personal information, such as passwords, login details, and credit card numbers.
When carried out via email this practice is referred to as Phishing. Pharming is when the victim is directed to a fake website disguised as a legitimate one.
The second most common type of cybercrime was non-payment and non-delivery. Non-payment refers to a buyer not paying for goods or services received, while non-delivery refers to the failure to deliver goods or services that have been paid for.
Extortion is the third most common form of cybercrime. Extortion comes in several forms, with the most common being the use of ransomware to seize access to your files and devices, followed by a demand for money, cryptocurrency, gift cards or any other form of payment.
Garrett Sutton, Founder of Corporate Direct and Sutton Law Center and author of the book Scam-Proof Your Assets, part of the Rich Dad Advisor Series, says that there a number of asset protection measures exist that mitigate the likelihood of scam activity. One that he highly recommends is a business entity known as a Wyoming LLC. Says Sutton:
“Wyoming LLCs provide excellent asset protection for real estate, paper, billion, and crypto-assets. They also provide anonymity as, unlike other states, they don’t list your personal name on the Secretary of State’s website.”
He notes though that insurance should be the first line of defense, recommending what is known as cyber liability business coverage for business activities.
With respect to digital protection, Sutton recommends
two-factor authentication (2FA), which ensures that anyone trying to access your account has to verify their identification twice, as an extra layer of protection.
“Usually, this means that in addition to entering a password, you would be sent a text with a code that you would need to input to verify your identity. It’s an especially important measure to take on accounts that provide access to financial information. You can verify which major sites in a wide range of categories have this option to TwoFactorAuth.org, which also provides links directly to those pages.”
He also stresses the importance of checking your credit report at least once a year and carefully reviewing it for errors.
“About 20 percent of them include errors, which may or may not be due to fraud. If you catch any, correct them. If something doesn’t look right, it could be a sign you’ve been targeted for identity theft.”
Sutton’s book Scam-Proof Your Assets reveals the enormity of frauds that hurt us both financially and emotionally. Since cybercriminals create new deceptions every day it is important to understand the patterns they use, including fear and greed, ‘expert’ advice, and charm as manipulation. This very timely and useful book will help you through today’s challenging, hoax-filled environment.
In the book, Sutton asserts that everyone is a target and that scam artists are hard to identify. Ultimately, the key he says is identifying the patterns and templates of fraud that protect you from the never-ending onslaught of deceit.
Robert Kiyosaki, noted wealth advisor and author of the perennial bestselling book “Rich Dad, Poor Dad,” calls Scam-Proof Your Assets “the absolute best book for protection against scams.”
