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A USD3.9 billion Internet fraud scheme that has been running since 1999 has been uncovered by the International Chamber of Commerce.
The victims had paid tens of thousands of dollars for the issue of fraudulent bank guarantees that were validated by Web sites run by the fraudsters, according to Reuters.
To make them seem legitimate, the Web sites were made to look as though they were run by an international clearing house for financial securities and a financial information agency.
One U.S. businessman had lost USD70,000 in the scam, but the Commercial Crime Bureau said it was not clear how much had been stolen in total. At least 10 cases had been identified.
The 29 Web sites used in the scam, which is believed to have been running since 1999, have been shut down. The mastermind behind the scheme is still at large, Jon Merrett, assistant director of the ICC Commerical Crime Bureau told Reuters.
The British based bureau polices all financial and intellectual property rights breaches on the Web.
Four people have been arrested in Switzerland and San Francisco but neither is believed to be the creator of the scam.
Merrett said the person or persons behind the scheme could be running other on-line fraud schemes.
The bureau were alerted to the false bank guarantees six months ago but believe some victims were conned as early as 1999.
The scam operated in the United States and the Far East but false guarantees had been presented to banks in several countries, including the UK.
The sites were hosted by an Internet service provider in the United States.
"The problem with the Net is that it is not secure because Internet service providers don't run identity checks on their clients," Merrett told Reuters.
It is very easy to set up an e-mail account and Web page on an ISP offering free Web space and no checks are done on the people setting them up.
Merrett told Reuters that users who are in doubt about the authenticity of a Web site should do a 'whois' search of the domain name on any of the large search engines. This will reveal who the site is registered to.
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