Computer Fraud: Types and Legal Regulation Issues

In today’s world due the progression of technology the number of problems that are related with computers have risen. Particularly when it comes the misuse of computers and such devices. There are people who use computers to deceive others in a number of ways such as system hacking, e-mail hoax, sales and investment fraud, hacking, identity theft, ransomware and online scams. Anyone that uses a computer with an internet connection they are a potential candidate of being a victim of computer fraud. The rate of computer fraud is soaring each day as the internet usage among the world increase, the number of people who are using their computers and internet the right way but there are some that are intentionally using computers to bring down organizations , business firms and to get peoples personal information. Furthermore, due to the implementation of the current legal regulation’s criminals started to be tracked down and be punished under the computer Misuse Act of 1990. This act was planned after the Regina v Gold and Schifreen case of 1987, in which two individual hackers remotely accessed BT’s Prestel service at a trade show using the credentials of a BT engineer.

Computer fraud

Ultimately computer fraud is defined as taking control get to illegal or the stealing of information without others knowledge, computer fraud can occur in any form ; it incorporates fraud committed by a representative of an organization utilizing the computer to steal funds or information from the organization, though a few individuals use deception to access individual resources. Therefore, the type and the method that is carried out to do the computer fraud differ from individuals to individual’s contingent on the need to do it.

Causes for computer fraud

The most cause of computer fraud that is done, is to gain money or either to steal information from big organizations for example or to steal funds. There are few individuals who are not concerned about the money or information, but they just want to bring down the organization or person so that they might reveal their secrets and they are some people who do it for fun.

Types of computer fraud

Computer fraud can be classified into a number of types that is depending on the fraud that has been committed but the major categorisations of fraud which are mentioned down below. The computer fraud and crimes that are going on nowadays come under these categories which are:

1. Internet auction and bid sales fraud
2. Phishing
3. Credit card fraud
4. Email hoax
5. Letter scam
6. Ad ware
7. Information hacking
8. Identity theft
9. Investment schemes
10. Virus and worm attack.

These types of computer frauds that I have mentioned are caused due to the advancement of technology, and the crime is still increase around the world. They are a number of ways in which we can prevent computer fraud apart from legal regulation as being alert to the scams that are circulated all around the internet to protection the system and the information that is stored within the system. The three forms of computer fraud that I am going to talk about are credit card fraud, phishing and Identity theft.

Credit card fraud

Credit card fraud is any kind of theft or any fraud that involves a credit card. The main aim of credit card fraud is to purchase goods without paying for them or to steal money from someone else credit account. When it comes to credit card fraud, they are types which can be broken up into various types of card fraud into four areas which are:

1. Lost and stolen cards that are used without the owner’s permission.
2. Card details such as card number, card holder name, date of birth and address are stolen mostly often from online databases or by email scams then they are sold and then used on the internet and by over the mobile phone.
3. Credit cards which are skimmed meaning that a card has been cloned or it has been copied by using a special swipe machine to make a duplicate of the credit card.
4. Committing fraudulent applications using someone else’s name for a new credit card without the person knowing.

When a credit card fraud crime has taken place normally the victim of the fraud won’t be liable for the unauthorised payments on the card during the fraud, as they are covered under the consumer credit act of 1974. What this means is that the victim can claim back the money that they lost due to the fraud crime. There are also circumstances that will mean that the victim would not get all the money back for instance if you were behaving negligently by not paying enough attention to the security of your card and their details or when the bank might say you were negligent and would not reimburse the money to the victim for instance if it has been over 13 months or more since the fraudulent activity happen to the card or you acted fraudulently such as pretending a payment wasn’t you when actually it was or the bank can provide that the person authorised the transaction. In the Uk credit card fraud the maximum punishment for this offence is up to ten years imprisonment or might get a fine or them both but sentences of the maximum length they are usually reserved for the most serious cases.

Phishing

Phishing is a cybercrime in which a target or targets are contacted by email, telephone or text message by someone posing as a genuine institution to lure individuals into providing sensitive data such as personally identifiable information, banking and credit card details, and passwords. The information is then used to access the persons important accounts and can lead to identity theft or to financial loss. They are five types of common types of phishing attacks which are:

1. Email phishing
2. Spear phishing
3. Whaling
4. Smishing and vishing
5. Angler phishing

The law in the UK is gradually adapting to address phishing and other forms of cyber-crime. Forthcoming amendments to the Computer Misuse Act 1990 (in the Police and Justice Act 2006) aim to bring it up to date with developments in computer crime and to increase penalties for breach (up to 10 years imprisonment). Meanwhile, the Fraud Act 2006 resolves uncertainty over whether statutory offences under earlier anti-fraud law applied to activities such as phishing and introduces new offences to better equip police and prosecutors to deal with the challenge of combating fraud in the 21st century. It addresses phishing by establishing the offence of making a false representation including email or the internet with a view to making a gain for oneself or another, or to causing loss to another or exposing another to a risk of loss. The Fraud Act likewise addresses different parts of cybercrime, for instance by introducing an offense of having software or information for use in fraud and of making software realizing that it is designed or adapted for use in connection with fraud. Offenses under these Acts are punishable of fines and/or detainment as long as 10 years.

Identity theft

Identity theft is a specific form of fraud whereby the cybercriminals steal the personal data which including’s passwords, credit cards, social security and other sensitive information for example, usually as a method to gain a financial advantage or to obtain credit and other kinds of benefits using another person’s name. In the Uk identity theft is a punishment offence in which an individual can get up to ten years of imprisonment or get a fine or both. The maximum length it is normally revered for the most serious of cases. Identity theft is unavoidable in today’s day in age, and here are many reasons why identity thieves target your personal information. From financial gain to malicious motives and they are different types which are to name a few:

Financial identity theft

Financial identity theft is one of the most common type of theft. In most cases, the identity thief is trying to get a credit card, a loan, or merely buy things by claiming to be someone else. This can be tremendously damaging to a victim’s credit score and their ability to get a loan in the future.

Medical identity theft

Medical identity theft it occurs when a person uses another person’s personal identifiable information to fraudulently obtain medical service, prescription drugs or medical insurance coverage. This kind of identity theft can be very much costly and a complicated crime to resolve.

Criminal identity theft

Criminal identity theft it normally happens when an individual gives false information to the police at the time that the individual is arrested. Occasionally, criminals will get state issued identity documents using identifications that they have stolen from someone else, or they have simply created a fake ID. If this type of fraud works, the criminal charges could be filed against the identity theft victim, and the real criminal may be off the hook. At times the victim might need to track down the police officers who made the original arrest and prove their own identity. They may also need to attend a court hearing to be cleared of the charges.

In the UK the punishment for this offence can be up to ten years imprisonment or a fine or just both. The sentences of the maximum length for this crime is usually reserved for the most serious of cases.

Conclusion

After all the basic discussion about the concepts and the causes of computer fraud, we are going to discuss about the legal regulation issues related with the computer fraud which tells how the legal regulations guidelines forestall or decrease the growing computer fraud rate in the present developing world of technology, Most of the law change is accomplished by altering and extending the existing law to adapt to new circumstances as rather than to by the presentation of totally new legislation. This can some of the time make it hard to locate a solitary place where the entire of a territory of law is clearly set out. The Computer Misuse Act was established in 1990 and it remains the essential bit of UK legislation concentrating on the misuse of computer systems. It covers computer frauds for example hacking and the delibrate spread of viruses and was made to forestall unapproved access or change of modification of computer systems and to keep criminal components from utilizing a computer to aid the commission of a criminal offense or from hindering or preventing access to information put away in a computer. “In 2004, MPs – specifically, the All-Party Internet Group (APIG) – began a review of the CMA, on the basis that this legislation was created before the emergence of the Internet and therefore required updating”.

The Act apparently focused a lot on individual computers and insufficient on computer systems. Likewise, a portion of the definitions utilized in the 1990 Act need refreshing. The final report laid out a few suggestions to the administration for changes to the CMA. In March 2005, APIG called for alterations to the CMA to address the danger from refusal of denial of service attacks.

The Computer Misuse Act was passed in 1990 to manage the issue of hacking and other different dangers of computer systems. In the early days hacking and other computer fraud related issues where not paid attention to by the law and the impression was that it is mischievous rather than something which makes serious loss to organizations. In any case, with advancements in technology the issue has gotten increasingly much more serious and legislation was introduced to perceive the three key offenses:

1. Unauthorized access to computer material such as : Finding or guessing someone’s password and then using that to get into a computer system and have a look at the information.
2. Unauthorized access with intent to commit further offences. The key to this offence is the addition of intent to commit further offences. It therefore includes guessing or stealing a password and using that to access material or services without the consent of the owner.
3. Unauthorized modification of computer material. This could include deleting files, the changing of the desktop set-up or introducing viruses with the deliberate intent to impair the operation of a computer.

All the previously mentioned computer fraud issues were not paid attention to until the legal regulation was made properly and because of the execution of legal law of Computer Misuse Act, the use caused a gigantic change by punishing all the illegal users of the computer system.