Everyone is susceptible to being scammed online. This statement is even more apparent with the creator of the World Wide Web falling for an online scam.

Sir Timothy John Berners-Lee, a credited professor of computer sciences at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, first conceived the idea of the web 20 years ago, which was designed for the searching and sharing of electronic documents between scientists.  Now, he himself has become a first-hand victim of one of his own creation’s vices: online fraud.

Though Sir Timothy sees a promising future for the web, he notes that it has cultivated “nasty things,” which need to be mitigated.   He shares his defrauding experience as a testament.  “I tried to buy a Christmas present from a company that looked like a bona fide company. When the product didn’t show I called the 800 number on the site for assistance and that’s when I realized (I’d been scammed).  All I heard was a polite voice saying the number wasn’t actually connected to a particular company and was available for use.”

In the UK, approximately one in four internet users were conned by phishing scams designed to solicit people’s financial details, while one in six were victims of other forms of online fraud.

Sir Timothy emphasizes the need and importance of fighting virtual crime as much as conventional crime.  He underlines discrepancies in national enforcement as a major security snag.  Though laws on fraud do exist, many internet criminals operate in foreign countries where they are difficult to catch and do not have the same legal jurisdiction as their victim’s countries, enabling them to escape prosecution.  In response, Sir Timothy stresses the need to enforce crime on the international level by establishing international agreements.

The lesson behind this story is that if the inventor of the World Wide Web can be fooled online, so can you.  Be diligent with what personal information you give out and where you use your credit card online. As an additional safeguard, you can install browser-plug ins that caution you on potential risky sites and help you find safer alternatives like McAfee’s free and easy to install SiteAdvisor.

Click here to view our tips on how not to be fooled by online scams.

Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/scienceandtechnology/technology/technologynews/4990442/World-Wide-Web-creator-Sir-Tim-Berners-Lee-fell-victim-to-online-fraud.html

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