Five Common Cyber Crimes

The Internet has done wonders for connecting our society in ways we never had before. It’s also opened a whole new world for criminal activity, and today there are thousands of different laws and regulations on the books to try to cut back on the amount of fraudulent or illegal activity performed online. Some common cyber-crimes are well-known while many others are actually somewhat surprising. Let’s take a look at five of the most common types of cyber-crime and discuss what the law has to say about them.

Gambling on Sports

Pretty much wherever you find sports, you’ll find someone placing bets on them. Las Vegas, Atlantic City, and other casino hotspots have made a fortune off sports books, but you won’t find them online. Gambling on sports via the internet is actually against the law, nationwide. However, other forms of gambling, such as online poker or slots, are legal in some places, provided local and state laws allow it.

Blackmail/Extortion

It’s easy to get ahold of nearly anyone online, thanks to publically-listed email addresses or databases filled with personal information. This has made it easy for criminals to obtain personal or embarrassing information and use it to attempt to blackmail their target. Extortion is a federal crime that usually carries a hefty fine and prison sentence of anywhere between five and 99 years in length.

Identity Theftf

The Internet has unfortunately made it extremely easy to steal personally-identifiable information as well, including credit card numbers, personal identification numbers (PINs), social security numbers, addresses, dates of birth, and more. Hackers will often try to steal this information and then sell it or use it to steal your assets or harm your credit to their benefit. Be extremely careful when receiving any emails from companies asking you to “log in” to your account or provide them with other information that could be used to identify you personally: they’re probably phishing attempts.

Harassment

Using the Internet to abuse, annoy, threaten, stalk, or harass another person in any way, shape, or form could constitute the crime of harassment. This crime has been linked to all sorts of issues, including cyber-bullying, which has been found to lead to depression and other mental health damage. And what’s perhaps worse is much of this harassment is done anonymously.

Illegal Pornography

Explicit images of anyone under the age of 18 are highly illegal in all instances, while those depicting people over the age of 18 can still be illegal if they are shared or posted without the subject’s consent. Child pornography is a felony sex crime, requiring sex offender registration in most states, and carries a prison sentence between 5 and 20 years.