Criminal Activity

Explain how the Internet has aided criminal activity. The internet has aided criminal activity by communicating with each other without having to be near, as well as fraud and identity theft. The rise of the Internet over the last decade has paralleled some of the greatest milestones in communications history. Along with such great strides in bringing the world together, the frightening aspect of accessing information and propaganda that tests the very limits of the U.S. Constitution has arrived. With just a few keystrokes, an individual can have access to all forms of pornography, bomb-making instructions, and poison recipes and a plethora of extremist ideologies expressing everything from radical religious cults to clandestine organized crime groups. Provide three specific examples of how the Internet has aided criminal activity. One of the examples are Internet fraud. Internet fraud is also called Internet scams. Sometimes, people would try to sell you something on the Internet at prices that seem unbeatable and sometimes magical. These websites would ask you for your credit card and personal information. Then, they will steal your money and they have committed fraud. The next example is identity theft. As most people already know in America, identity theft is the fastest growing crime of any kind going on today. The number of new cases of identity theft is staggering. Some of these cases involve the theft of huge volumes of personal information by credit card companies. For example, MasterCard had a recent case where more than 400,000 customers had their personal information stolen. The third example is Internet sex crimes. Using the internet to lure or entice a minor, to commit child pornography or to commit any other sexual offense can result in severe penalties. Internet sex crimes against minors in particular are harshly prosecuted and a conviction will likely result in a state or federal prison sentence, sex offender registration, fines, probation