Buying Fake Coins on eBay - Essay Example

Summary Summary Mac Addicts to the Rescue Jason Eric Smith was a victim to an online counterfeiter. He was robbed of his Mac which he had sold through eBay. His efforts to recover his Mac did not succeed however with the help of other Mac users he managed to have the counterfeiter arrested. The counterfeiter also happened to have robbed other people online. After realising he had fallen victim to fraud, Smith tried to find out the address of the fraudster but it took him sometime. There were so many challenges that he had to overcome including uncooperative authority.

However, with the help of few tips from his online friends and great determination, Smith was able to pin point the location of the fraudster and informed the authorities who went ahead to make the arrest (Smith, 2002). Identity Thief finds easy Money Hard to ResistThe story of Shiva Brent Sharma shows how he learned the skills of identity stealing from websites. With the help of online identity thieves and websites set up to help would be fraudsters learn tricks on fraud, he was able to gain enough skills which helped him to wire transfer money from other people’s accounts to his after stealing their identities.

He also used other people’s credit cards to purchase items. His victims seem to be people who were new to computer use or maybe who were not cautious enough when responding to prompts made to them through their e-mails. Sharma said the money was coming too fast and he found it hard to resist engaging in identity stealing (Zeller, 2006). Hacker HuntersThis story illustrates the challenges that authorities encounter when hunting down hackers. It is clear that hackers are becoming more skilled and elusive to hunt down.

ShadowCrew website is significantly focused on in explaining the technicalities of hunting hackers. It is noted that cyber gangs are becoming international groups and consequently tracking them is becoming harder. Some of them have their servers in countries that are not cooperative in the fight against cyber crimes. The fight against cyber gangs will only succeed if all the stakeholders cooperate. The input by private security firms which develop anti-viruses is noted to be important as well as cooperation of security agent in different nations (Grow, 2004).

What eBay Isn’t Telling YouThis article focuses on manipulation of eBay system to make some account holders appear highly credible and therefore trustworthy. It is noted that the user evaluation system of eBay is vulnerable to manipulation and unfortunately it is this system that is used by buyers and seller to evaluate the credibility of other buyers and sellers. This article argues that eBay scams are more likely to be higher than are reported because not all cases are reported. Proving the legitimacy of online sellers is shown as the hardest thing by online buyers – this was the case for Richardson as illustrated in the article (Freedman, 2002).

Child Identity TheftSocial security numbers which are idle are targeted by thieves for exploitation. These numbers are paired with different names and birth dates, and used by illegal immigrants. The identities of children are particularly targeted by thieves because they remain idle for a long time, and therefore it is not easy for their use to be discovered by the owner. This is coupled by the fact that parents do not engage regularly in monitoring their children’s identities. People who target children’s identities are illegal immigrants, criminals and family members or friends.

Using the identities of children in this manner has a potential of adversely affecting their (children’s) future (Power, n.d).ReferencesFreedman, D. H. (2002). What eBay isn’t Telling You. Business 2.0. Retrieved from http://www.business2.com/articles/mag/print/0,1643,42194,00.htmlGrow, B. (2004). Hacker Hunters. Business Week Online. Retrieved from http://yahoo.businessweek.comPower, R. (n.d). Child Identity Theft. CyLab. Retrieved from www.cylab.cmu.edu Smith, J. E. (2002). Mac Addicts to the Rescue or How I Caught a Counterfeiter with a Little Help from my Friends. ReModern. Retrieved from http://www.remodern.com/caught.

htmlZeller, T. (2006, 4 July). Identity Thief finds easy money hard to resist. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com