The number of online frauds vary by country. Below is a breakdown of the countries from where the most fraud originates as well as the least. According to ClearCommerce, approximately 6% of all online transactions from such countries as Malaysia and Israel (who are
actually on the bottom of the dirty dozen show below) are fraudulent.
| Countries from where the most online fraud originate. | Countries from where the least online fraud originate. | When the fraud is perpetrated from within the U.S., these are the states with the largest percentage of fraudulent people |
| 1) Ukraine 2) Indonesia 3) Yugoslavia 4) Lithuania 5) Egypt 6) Romania 7) Bulgaria 8 ) Turkey 9) Russia 10) Pakistan 11) Malaysia 12) Israel |
1) Austria 2) New Zealand 3) Taiwan 4) Norway 5) Spain 6) Japan 7) Switzerland 8 ) South Africa 9) Hong Kong 10) United Kingdom 11) France 12) Australia 13) United States |
1) California – 21% 2) Florida – 10.1% 3) New York – 8.3% 4) Texas – 6.0% 5) Penn. – 4.5% 6) Illinois – 3.9% 7) New Jersey – 3.7% 8 ) Michigan – 2.8% 9) North Car. – 2.6% 10) Virginia – 2.5% |
I would add Nigeria to the international dirty dozen, with the help me get my money out of here email scam. It is also known to be one of the major players in the shipping the goods to a freight forwarder to circumvent the international shipping scrutiny. By the way, most of the victims of this scam pay through account debits and wire services.
Top Internet Frauds
| Jan.-Oct. 2001 Top 10 Frauds | Percentage of total fraud | Average Loss Per Person |
| Online Auctions | 63% | $478 |
| General Merchandise Sales | 11% | $845 |
| Nigerian Money Offers | 9% | $6,542 |
| Internet Access Services | 3% | $568 |
| Information Adult Services | 3% | $234 |
| Computer Equipment/Soft. | 2% | $1,102 |
| Work-At-Home | 2% | $120 |
| Advance Fee Loans | 1% | No Data |
| Credit Card Issuing | .6% | No Data |
| Business Opportunities/franchises | .4% | No Data |
| 2001 Top 5 Methods of Payment | Payment used in general merchandise fraud |
| Money Order – 29% | Credit Card – 41% |
| Credit Card – 28% | Money Order – 21% |
| Check – 18% | Check – 16% |
| Bank Account Debit – 6% | Debit Card – 6% |
| Debit Card – 5% | Wire – 4% |
Source: Internet Fraud Watch
I am surprised that nigeria is not on the International dirty dozen. maybe our people are not as bad as others would want us to believe.
In my opinion, those stupid, badly-worded letters and emails most Nigerian scammers send out are so easily recognized as fake that they are absolutely harmless. They are more of an annoyance, really. A blid fellow could see through it a mile off.
Comment by Yomi — 7/19/2005 @ 3:27 pm