Deceived

Abstract

Suppose you’re trying to access your favorite search engine. You haven’t bookmarked it, so you type “google.com” in your browser. Accidentally, you mistype “gogle.com” instead. Your browser brings you to a page that looks just like Google’s but is connected to a competitor’s search engine. At the bottom of the page there is some small print warning that the site you’re viewing is not affiliated with google.com. Did you take time to read it? Probably not. Something similar would have happened if you had typed “gugle.com”, “guggle.com” or “goggle.com.” You’ve just been “page-jacked” [2]. While the negative consequences from this particular incident are probably not very serious, it is easy to imagine what might have happened if a criminal tried to simulate your bank Web site—in particular the page where you log-in your account number and your password. Actually, there is no need to imagine it. It has already happened. Page-jacking—the practice of simulating a legitimate page to obtain secrets or business from an unsuspecting Internet user—is an example of Internet deception. Studies have shown that even sophisticated, technologically-competent Internet shoppers are relatively easy prey for such deceptive copycat sites [4]. Page-jacking is just one example of a set of deviant behaviors that we call Internet deception (such as fraud, misleading advertisement, manipulations of financial information). In the period from 1996 to 1999, the number of reports to Internet Fraud Watch (IFW), a research organization funded by a major credit card network, grew more than 250% annually. Consumer complaints have grown so numerous that several federal agencies—the Federal Trade Commission, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and the Department of Justice—have started specialized programs for the detection and prosecution of Internet fraud. While Internet deception is troubling in its own right, its rising occurrence is a threat to Internet commerce. When buyers have trouble discriminating between good and bad products, even a small number of deceptive sellers might “poison” a market—driving out good products and eventually the consumers [1, 7]. To counter this