On February 14, 2012, Valentines Day, the FBI had posted an article on its website called, "Looking for Love, Beware of Online Dating Scams" in which it cautioned its readers to beware of scams involving Internet dating and social networking sites. Now, one would assume that the FBI has more important things to worry about than online dating scams, but the fact is that these scams are far more common, and far more expensive than your normal bank robbery. According to the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) 2011 Annual Report, there were 314, 246 complaints filed in 2011 reporting form of Internet related crime with a reported loss of over $480 million. In Pennsylvania alone, Internet crime losses reported by victims were well over $12 million and continue to rise every year. Of all the types of crime reported to the IC3, Identity Theft tops the list as the most common Internet crime reported. Internet crime is by far the fastest growing crime in America, and law enforcement has begun to realize the impact that the Internet has on police work.

So how does this have anything to do with online dating or social networking sites? The answer is simple. It has everything to do with it! According to a report by the Pew Internet and American Life Project, approximately 10 million people have admitted to be actively searching for a date online. This means there are 10 millions profiles with likes, dislikes, birthdays, addresses, phone numbers, and e-mail address ripe for the picking by online criminals. Criminals no longer have to "dumpster dive" (although many still do) in prospective targets garbage to obtain personally identifiable information (PIF), which can then be used to establish fictitious accounts and other identity related activity. Today, a criminal simply has to establish an account on one of the most popular social networking or dating sites under the ruse of looking for "friendship" or "companionship," when in fact they are looking for your information. This technique is not unique to just criminals. There is an entire industry of professionals and non-professionals from private investigators to your run of the mill stalkers that sit behind a computer screen, and siphon data from unprotected accounts. This cyber "scraping" is a multimillion-dollar industry based on the acquisition of data, YOUR data. <READ MORE>

After being approached by countless Criminal Justice majors with numerous questions, the staff at the Northeast Forensic Training Center are excited about a new idea. We all remember trying to get started and wanting to ask a practitioner questions in the field we were trying to get into. Recently, I read a college research paper and realized there was valuable information contained in the work that would be beneficial for practitioners to also review. We are creating "The Student's Corner" and adding this section to our e-newsletter beginning later this fall.

Professor endorsed research papers can be submitted for potential publication. Practitioners will have an opportunity to review and submit comments, concerns and/or encouragement to the writer. Students will also be able to submit job related questions for potential publication.

All submitted research papers, questions and/or responses will be reviewed for content prior to publication. The NFTC staff holds the right to deny publication of any research paper, comment and/or question that is not deemed appropriate to disseminate.