New York SBDC Research Network

Obtained from: eMarketer If a deal seems too good to be true, it probably is. Online buying scams were the biggest type of consumer fraud in 2017, according to the Better Business Bureau's (BBB's) annual scam-tracking report—up from fourth place a year earlier. The rise of digital shopping and growing comfort with sharing personal information online are factors in this growing category of fraud. At its most basic, consumers pay for something they never receive, which according to the BBB involves pets and clothing more than other types of online purchases. Most cases involve credit card payments. The report broke down susceptibility and loss by age, and very clear patterns emerged.

WannaCry: What can you do to protect your business? By Matthew Wall and Mark Ward Technology of Business, BBC News 19 May 2017   From the section Business There's been a lot in the news over the past week or two about the WannaCry cyber-attacks and what companies, in particular, are doing about the risk.   As well as keeping antivirus, firewall, application and OS software up-to-date, backing up key data regularly to offline hard drives should be a top priority, most cyber experts agree. This is because  data breaches and cyber-attacks  are inevitable these days. The bad news is that the average cost of a data breach globally stands at $4m (£3.1m), according to SailPoint, an identity management firm. This article from the BBC discusses what attacks mean for business and what steps can be taken.                       And this from Department of Homeland Security for what to do before, during and after: Cyber Incident  ... ·      

Who among you haven't had a client who wonders or worries about being taken in an online scam? It's a topic I've written about since we developed this blog. Since e-mail & the Internet aren't going away soon, it might be helpful to you & your clients to read the Internet Crime Report: 2006 . It's a 27-page report issued from the Internet Crime Complaint Center (the IC3), and it provides insights into the current trends being used to con people out of their money via electronic means. (You can just read the highlights here , too.) The report identifies nine broad types of online fraud, including identity theft, investment fraud, phishing, spamming, cyberstalking, and other nasty things. Appendix II of the report offers tips on how to avoid falling prey to perpetrators, too. The report represents just a fraction of the online fraud that goes on. Most crimes don't get reported. If you or any of your clients feel like they've been victimized, have t