California Cities Among Top 10 for E-commerce Crime
Los Angeles and San Francisco are among the top 10 cities in the United States where online and e-commerce fraud starts, according to a survey by ThreatMetrix, a San Jose, Calif.–based company that makes computer programs to protect its clients’ data and secure transactions against fraud, data breaches, malware and other online crimes.
Los Angeles is ranked as the fourth-largest city for the origination of e-commerce and online fraud. San Francisco is ranked No. 7. The top three are New York, Atlanta and Chicago, said Alisdair Faulkner, ThreatMetrix’s chief products officer.
According to ThreatMetrix, computer crimes on the rise include selling counterfeit goods online and stealing credit card numbers from data breaches, as well as identity theft.
“As fraudsters grow more sophisticated and expand globally, it’s only natural that large cities with international profiles, easy access to shipping and high connectivity rates will become breeding grounds for new generations of cyber threats, including both fraud and malware,” Faulkner said.
Representatives from the Los Angeles Police Department did not independently confirm ThreatMetrix’s findings. However, e-commerce fraud is growing, said Detective Andy Kleinick, the LAPD’s detective in charge of computer crimes. “The biggest crime out there is Internet fraud,” Kleinick said.” It’s a relatively new crime. …The laws are just catching up.”
With more people working on computers and becoming computer savvy, there are more opportunities for computer crime. When prosecuted, these criminals get relatively light sentences compared with more-violent criminals, such as muggers, Kleinick said.
ThreatMetrix made its survey conclusions after examining nearly 1 billion transactions performed by various U.S.–headquartered e-commerce merchants.—Andrew Asch
