Identifying Various Cybercrime Fighting Report

Cybercrime Fighting Report
Name
Institutional Affiliation
Cybercrime Fighting Report
The Anti-Phishing Working Group (APWG) is an international organization whose aim is to unify global efforts to deal with cybercrime across different industries, law enforcement agencies, governments, and non-governmental organizations. Founded in 2003, the organization draws members from different companies and law enforcement agencies across the world. In addition, APWG works closely with security organizations such as McAfee, Kaspersky, Visa, and Symantec to offer solutions to the problem of the growing cybersecurity threats. Furthermore, the organization facilitates data exchanges to tackle cybercrime events working with numerous researchers and correspondents across the world. Even though the organizations offer services to tackle different types of cybercrime, its main focus is phishing. This is defined as the act of sending emails to people in disguise of a refutable organization and with the intent of having the receiver(s) reveal personal information such as credit card data and passwords.
Scammers generally lure people into revealing their data by sending them emails and text messages while disguising themselves as big companies. According to the estimate of the FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center, phishing costs the country around 57 million dollars per year. Tactics used by scammers to phish for data may keep on changing (Federal Trade Commission, 2019). However, they will always pose as a reputable organization that the targeted victim trusts. Such a company may be a credit card provider, a bank, an online payment platform, an online store, an app, or even a social networking site. The victim is sold a story that eventually requires him or her to click on a link or open an attachment. For example, a scammer may message a victim claiming that the security of one of the latter's accounts has been compromised (Federal Trade Commission, 2019). The victim is then required to click on a link to help solve the purported security problem, but the main attention would be to steal personal data from the victim. Phishing activities can have dire consequences for the victims and the companies they claim to represent by ruining their reputation.
In fighting this type of cybercrime, APGW works with researchers and respondents around the world to identify new trends and develop practical solutions. In addition, the organization works closely with organizations across the industry and law enforcement agencies to try, track, and apprehend scammers involved in phishing activities (Safer Internet Day, n.d). Moreover, the organization offers a phish verification system through which users can report suspected phishes. Sites opting to use such a verification system ask their users to report suspected phishes based on community votes. Iden...