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The Cybercrime Wave That Wasn't
retroworks writes "Dinei Florencio and Cormac Herley write that cybercrime depleted gullible and unprotected users, producing diminishing returns (over-phishing). They argue that the statistics on the extent of losses from cybercrime are flawed because there is never an under-estimation reported. Do they underestimate the number of suckers gaining internet access born every minute? Or has cybercrime become the 'shark attack' that gets reported more often than it occurs?"
I work in a place that gets many calls related to phishing scams. You would not believe how many people argue with you on the legitness of the letter, they just don't understand why the money hasn't come to them yet. I don't believe in the past 5 years I've been here, the volume has decreased. Hasn't increased either, it tends to be steady every year.
My own parents were hit with a rental scam (even though I had told them always ask me first about anything fishy). It was hey we'll sign contract, here's money order, oh crap we sent you too much, can you send the difference back. Lost $500, but learned a lesson and changed how they do rental agreements as a result.
So 1 fish is out of the sea, but unfortunately with billions of people on the planet, there are plenty suckers out there. Also, many of these scams appeal to the get rich quick mentality of people. I mean how come other scams can keep working unless people have this need that "maybe this is the time this works and I can stop working or afford ".
To people thinking that every generation will get more computer savvy and this will go away, i tend to disagree. Just because a generation is tech savvy doesn't mean they won't fall for the temptation to make money quick, even if it does sound too good to be true.
Anyway, just my 2 cents.