Internet Crime of 2006.

One of my favorite new blogs is Dave Kaplan’s Bad Guys Blog (named so because Dave, chief investigative correspondent at U.S. News & World Report, covers stories about terrorism and other baddies).

Dave just wrote an entry about the top Internet crimes of 2006. Not surprisingly, auction fraud is on top of the list:

Although the number of complaints last year–207,492–fell by 10 percent, the overall losses hit a record $198 million. By far the most reported crime: Internet auction fraud, garnering 45 percent of all complaints. Also big was nondelivery of merchandise or payment, which notched second at 19 percent. The biggest money losers: those omnipresent Nigerian scam letters, which fleeced victims on average of $5,100–followed by check fraud at $3,744 and investment fraud at $2,694.

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