In the 1985 Robert Zemeckis film, Back to the Future, main character Marty McFly discusses a failed circuit with the Doc and says, “What do you mean, Doc, all the best stuff is made in Japan.” Apparently, some of the worst now comes from Japan as well. Cyber crime has reached new levels in the Asian country which, according to the national police agency, set a record in 2009 with 6,690 incidents; an increase of nearly six percent over 2008. Worse yet, the number of reported cyber crimes in Japan has more than doubled since 2005.
Leading the cyber crime issue is child pornography with 507 new cases last year. While international efforts have been undertaken to put a stop to this and other abuses of children, the Japanese underground has managed to thwart the authorities. Like cyber crime in general, child pornography cases have doubled.
Identity theft and bank fraud are Japan’s other top concerns with 2,534 new cases in 2009; an increase of 45 percent. Included in these statistics are the illegal accessing of bank sites and other databases. Fraud cases involving online auctions were down by fifty-four percent however, reflecting the efforts made by auction sites to insure sellers receive no payment until purchased goods are delivered.
Great post.
Perhaps I can just add to this that the best way to guard against being ripped off by online sales or auctions is to use a bona fide online escrow company. Although it does add some cost, that will take uncertainty out of the transaction.
For my money, the best bona fide online escrow (and there seems to be ten fraudulent escrow sites for every bona fide one) is probably Escrow.com escrow.com). In fact, it’s the only one that eBay recommends.
Take care,
Ulf Wolf