Fraud and the Cost of Doing Business

This weekend is NOLA-Con a great Hacking, or to be more politically correct, Computer Security Conference in the amazing city of New Orleans. Even though I missed this year, I still plan on checking out the videos of presentations and you should too!

In 2016, I got to give a talk at the conference on the challenges that law enforcement investigators face when investigating cyber crimes. I'm sure it's on YouTube somewhere if you care to look. One of the greatest challenges faced is the lack of cooperation by victims.  I know what you are thinking, "How can that possibly be true?" If you have been a victim of identity theft, I feel your pain, but follow my logic for just a minute.

You log into your bank account one day only find somebody used your account information to make several online purchases and now you are out several hundred or even thousand dollars. You quickly call your bank and after playing 20 questions with a fraud representative you are advised to contact local law enforcement and file a police report to complete your fraud claim.

Of course when you call your local police you want the bad guy caught and prosecuted to the "fullest extent of the law!" And you are willing to help in anyway possible, at least for a couple of days. Thankfully, the bank refunds your missing money and you begin to lose interest. I know, we are all busy and downloading records or printing out information is a pain, Besides, you are busy with kids and work and school and church.....

Really, it's not your fault. The banks are almost as bad, some other person will send over that information as some other time. I no longer hold my breath waiting and after a few weeks the case is marked "Inactive" and place a really, really big file cabinet never to be seen again. (Think the last scene of Indian Jones Raiders of the Last Ark movie)

The problem is real money was stolen either from the merchant (via charge back) or the bank, or maybe an insurance company and the current solution: "Just raise the price a little or charge another fee" That's just the cost of doing business.