Year: 2020

1. Design your brand

It is all about perceptions and senses. Nike sells sport shoes, but what the client is really buying is an idea. For the most successful companies in the world, products are just an excuse. What they actually sell you is their own identity, related it to some specific values and lifestyles. If you thought that branding was all about graphic design, get that idea out of your head now. The truth is that branding is everywhere, from the way you execute your services to the tone used in your emails.

• Define who you are: write a list of adjectives that describe your shop’s personality, as if it were a person. Think about it, what do you offer that other shops don’t? What are your strong points?
• Define your target audience: identify your ideal client, make it clear to which audience your product is directed. Do not compete on prices, not everyone is ready for what you are offering. Think about yourself as a Ferrari dealer. Most people cannot afford it, which in no way makes you less valuable, but rather the opposite.
• Define your style: apart from from the previous two ideas, decide how you want to be thought of. What emotions do you want to arouse? What values do you want to be associated with? Now you are ready to portray all of those ideas through some graphic design by creating your logo, defining your colours and your corporate typography.

2. Add value using content marketing

Nobody is going to buy from your shop on their first visit ‘just because’. You must offer content that is both valuable and interesting to your client. Make sure to upload content regularly, whether it be a written blog post, a video on your YouTube channel, or creating an audio podcast through Sound cloud, Ivoox or ITunes.

3. Plan your email marketing strategy

Many online shops think they need to be on every new social media site in order to strengthen their brand, but the reality is that it is email that continues to drive sales. It is essential that your website allow people to subscribe and that you keep growing your contact list so that clients receive your content in their inboxes. A good strategy is to add a Lead Magnet to your site . That is to say, some related content that people can download in exchange for subscribing to your email list. It could be an eBook, for example.

4. Get the most out of copywriting

Offering free useful items is great, but don’t forget that your main goal is still the same: to sell . Make sure you plan all of your newsletter texts and landing pages in accordance with the persuasive methods of copywriting . Focus on the problem that you are going to solve for your client, convince them that every day they spend without buying your product is a wasted day, and include calls to action.

5. Include testimonials

Nobody is going to believe your products are good just because you say so. You need to use recommendation marketing: people’s comments and references that support your reputation. The bigger following your reference has or the better their position in the sector, the better value their testimonial will have. Contact influencers who share your values and send them products so that they can try them out, if necessary. They will generate qualified traffic for your site and along with it, more sales.

6. Be careful with your shipping times and offer guaranteed returns

Surely you have bought something from Amazon. The product normally arrives within 24 hours and in the case that you need to return it, they come pick it up for free and they give you your money back as soon as they get the product. The goal is very clear: to keep the client satisfied . Apart from the selling itself, the most important thing is to uphold your reputation long-term and for buyers to come back and recommend you in the future. Remember that investing time and money in improving your customer support is not an expense, but rather an investment that yields high returns.

Permission marketing is a concept introduced in a book of the same name in 1999 by marketing expert Seth Godin. Permission marketing is a non-traditional marketing technique that advertises goods and services when advance consent is given.

Permission marketing has increased in popularity, particularly with respect to digital marketing. Subscription email updates are a good example of permission marketing. Users can opt-in to receive periodic emails with updates and offers based on the interests they expressed when they registered on a website or other consumer touchpoint. Subscribing, in this case, is the act of giving permission and allowing themselves to be marketed to.

Benefits

Permission marketing allows consumers to choose whether or not to be subjected to marketing. This choice can result in better engagement. For example, consumers are more likely to open an email marketing message if they “double opt in” compared to a regular “single opt in“. By targeting volunteers, permission marketing improves the odds that consumers pay more attention to the marketing message. Permission marketing thus encourages consumers to engage in a long-standing, cooperative marketing campaign.

Cost-efficiency: Permission marketing employs low cost online tools social media, search engine optimization, e-mails, etc. Furthermore, by only marketing to consumers who have expressed an interest, businesses can lower their marketing costs.

High conversion rate: As the targeting audience are those who have expressed an interest to the product, it is easier to convert the leads into sales.

Personalization: Permission marketing allows businesses to run personalized campaigns; it allows them to target specific audiences according to their age, gender, geographical location, etc.

Long-term relationships with customer: Through the usage of social media and e-mails, businesses can interact and build long-term relationships with the customers.

Marketing reputation: Permission marketing only sends information to those who are anticipating the information. Therefore, prospects who receive the information feel less discomfort.

Levels

There are 5 levels of permission in permission marketing. These “levels” measure the degree of permission a consumer has granted to a specific business. At each successive level of the permission framework, the business achieves a higher efficiency state, with a decrease in marketing cost. Thus, businesses usually aim to achieve the “intravenous permission” level. However, the 5 levels of permission should not be considered as a necessary sequential process, as more than one level could apply simultaneously depending on the nature of the business.

Situational permission: The prospect permits the business to come into contact by providing their personal information.

Brand trust: The prospect permits the business to continue supplying their needs.

Personal relationship: The prospect’s permission is granted because of a personal relationship that he/she has with someone in the provider organization.

Point’s permission: At this stage, the customer has agreed to receive goods or services and has allowed the business to collect their personal data. This is usually because they are provided with incentives, such as exchangeable points or an opportunity to earn a prize.

Intravenous permission: The supplier has now taken over the supply function for a specific good or a service; the customer is completely dependent on the business. This is the highest level of permission. The marketer, who has taken over the intravenous permission will be making the buying decisions on behalf of their Customers.

Permission Marketing vs. Traditional Direct Marketing

Direct marketing in the traditional sense is often blind marketing little is known about the target audience other than the postal code. For example, a real estate agent might send a postcard with their details to every home that has a particular zip code in a certain area.

A permission marketing approach would involve a real estate agent using a blog to share content about home prices, mortgage rates, and tips on selling a home specific to that same area. The blog might show a link to an email newsletter opt-in that prompts the user to answer basic questions that help the real estate agent determine what services they might need. For example, “When did you purchase your current home?” or “Do you intend to buy a home in the next year?” This information can be used to segment emails into different lists and further personalize the content. This type of communication builds a relationship with subscribers. When the time comes for them to sell or buy property, they will be likely to contact the real estate agent who is already communicating with them and with whom they have a relationship.

SQL is Structured Query Language, which is a computer language for storing, manipulating and retrieving data stored in a relational database.

SQL is the standard language for Relational Database System. All the Relational Database Management Systems (RDMS) like MySQL, MS Access, Oracle, Sybase, Informix, Postgres and SQL Server use SQL as their standard database language.

Also, they are using different dialects, such as:

• MS SQL Server using T-SQL,
• Oracle using PL/SQL,
• MS Access version of SQL is called JET SQL (native format) etc.

SQL is widely popular because it offers the following advantages −

• Allows users to access data in the relational database management systems.
• Allows users to describe the data.
• Allows users to define the data in a database and manipulate that data.
• Allows to embed within other languages using SQL modules, libraries & pre-compilers.
• Allows users to create and drop databases and tables.
• Allows users to create view, stored procedure, functions in a database.
• Allows users to set permissions on tables, procedures and views.

SQL Process

When you are executing an SQL command for any RDBMS, the system determines the best way to carry out your request and SQL engine figures out how to interpret the task.

There are various components included in this process.

These components are:

• Query Dispatcher
• Optimization Engines
• Classic Query Engine
• SQL Query Engine, etc.

There are many popular RDBMS available to work with. This tutorial gives a brief overview of some of the most popular RDBMS’s. This would help you to compare their basic features.

MySQL

MySQL is an open source SQL database, which is developed by a Swedish company – MySQL AB. MySQL is pronounced as “my ess-que-ell,” in contrast with SQL, pronounced “sequel.”

MySQL is supporting many different platforms including Microsoft Windows, the major Linux distributions, UNIX, and Mac OS X.

MySQL has free and paid versions, depending on its usage (non-commercial/commercial) and features. MySQL comes with a very fast, multi-threaded, multi-user and robust SQL database server.

Features

• High Performance.
• High Availability.
• Scalability and Flexibility run anything.
• Robust Transactional Support.
• Web and Data Warehouse Strengths.
• Strong Data Protection.
• Comprehensive Application Development.
• Management Ease.
• Open Source Freedom and 24 x 7 Support.
• Lowest Total Cost of Ownership.

MS SQL Server

MS SQL Server is a Relational Database Management System developed by Microsoft Inc. Its primary query languages are:

• T-SQL
• ANSI SQL

Features

• High Performance
• High Availability
• Database mirroring
• Database snapshots
• CLR integration
• Service Broker
• DDL triggers
• Ranking functions
• Row version-based isolation levels
• XML integration
• TRY…CATCH
• Database Mail

ORACLE

It is a very large multi-user based database management system. Oracle is a relational database management system developed by ‘Oracle Corporation’.

Oracle works to efficiently manage its resources, a database of information among the multiple clients requesting and sending data in the network.

It is an excellent database server choice for client/server computing. Oracle supports all major operating systems for both clients and servers, including MSDOS, NetWare, UnixWare, OS/2 and most UNIX flavors.

Viral Marketing is any marketing technique that induces websites or users to pass on a marketing message to other sites or users, creating a potentially exponential growth in the message’s visibility and effect. A popular example of successful viral marketing is Hotmail, a company now owned by Microsoft that promoted its services and its own advertisers’ messages in every user’s email notes.

Types of viral marketing techniques

There are three criteria for basic viral marketing; the messenger, the message and the environment. All three must be effectively executed in order for a viral message to be successful.

Some techniques for effective marketing include targeting the appropriate audience and channels, creating videos, offering a valuable service or product for free, creating an emotional appeal, social outreach and enabling easy sharing and downloading.

Who uses it

Viral marketing can be effective as a stand-alone tool or as part of a larger marketing campaign. It can be used by both large and small companies, but can be especially attractive to smaller business, as it can be more cost-effective than traditional marketing efforts.

Viral marketing has been used by energy drink companies, movies and even political campaigns to generate marketing buzz.

Viral marketing is the goal of many companies looking to leverage the social media space to promote their products. Defined as piece of content generated by a person or business that inspires consumers to eagerly share it with their expanded social circle, viral marketing can help build brand recognition instantly but is easier said than done.

Instant Awareness

Viral marketing can be important in launching a new product by getting your brand in front of a large potential market quickly. A YouTube video costs a fraction as much as a TV commercial, but if it inspires people to share your message it can have a major impact on brand recognition. Kraft, for example, used viral marketing to successfully launch its MiO brand of liquid water enhancer. Twitter and Facebook are among the other social media tools that allow users to share content, and are useful in attracting attention.

Make It Easy

A viral campaign isn’t the place to tell your audience every single detail of your product or service, even if it’s their first exposure to what you’re selling. Instead, it should generate a reaction quickly and easily, such as laughter, surprise or shock. If you already have a strong online presence, seed it with your biggest fans first to get them to spread the word for you. It’s not an ideal marketing strategy to just post your product’s viral marketing video on YouTube and hope for the best. Consider placing ads linking to the video on search engines, with the ads appearing when users search terms relating to your product, such as “stain removal” for a dry-cleaning service.

Get Their Attention

Companies can be tempted to make the new product’s attributes the centerpiece of a viral marketing effort, but if that’s the star of the show it usually falls flat. Before you design your campaign, assess what causes you to click on a video or forward a link, and ask those in your company or social circle with experience in social media for their thoughts. Would you click on a video because it promised to be the best tongue cleaner on the market? Probably not. But Orabrush found success with viral marketing by making the star of the show a giant human tongue that did things like compete against little league football players on YouTube.

Measuring Effectiveness

It’s important to build in metrics to let you know if your campaign is going viral, and if it’s having the desired effect on brand awareness. Views, likes, re-tweets and other basic measures are a start, but find ways to expand that to something more meaningful to your campaign goals. Perhaps offer a free sample of your product as part of the campaign, and measure how many fill out the form to request the free sample. Or have the clicks take users to a landing page on your own site and measure how many engage there as well.

Control Factor

The biggest risk isn’t the possibility that a campaign will fall flat, but the loss of control that a viral marketing campaign necessitates. When customers pass along your viral marketing efforts, they do so on their terms, not yours. You might turn off customers as well as win them but you also may find your users see selling points that you never thought of..

Web Transaction Logs

In the field of databases in computer science, a transaction log (also transaction journal, database log, binary log or audit trail) is a history of actions executed by a database management system used to guarantee ACID properties over crashes or hardware failures. Physically, a log is a file listing changes to the database, stored in a stable storage format.

If, after a start, the database is found in an inconsistent state or not been shut down properly, the database management system reviews the database logs for uncommitted transactions and rolls back the changes made by these transactions. Additionally, all transactions that are already committed but whose changes were not yet materialized in the database are re-applied. Both are done to ensure atomicity and durability of transactions.

This term is not to be confused with other, human-readable logs that a database management system usually provides.

In database management systems, a journal is the record of data altered by a given process.

All log records include the general log attributes above, and also other attributes depending on their type (which is recorded in the Type attribute, as above).

• Update Log Record notes an update (change) to the database. It includes this extra information:
• PageID: A reference to the Page ID of the modified page.
• Length and Offset: Length in bytes and offset of the page are usually included.
• Before and After Images: Includes the value of the bytes of page before and after the page change. Some databases may have logs which include one or both images.
• Compensation Log Record notes the rollback of a particular change to the database. Each corresponds with exactly one other Update Log Record (although the corresponding update log record is not typically stored in the Compensation Log Record). It includes this extra information:
• undoNextLSN: This field contains the LSN of the next log record that is to be undone for transaction that wrote the last Update Log.
• Commit Record notes a decision to commit a transaction.
• Abort Record notes a decision to abort and hence roll back a transaction.
• Checkpoint Record notes that a checkpoint has been made. These are used to speed up recovery. They record information that eliminates the need to read a long way into the log’s past. This varies according to checkpoint algorithm. If all dirty pages are flushed while creating the checkpoint (as in PostgreSQL), it might contain:
• redoLSN: This is a reference to the first log record that corresponds to a dirty page. i.e. the first update that wasn’t flushed at checkpoint time. This is where redo must begin on recovery.
• undoLSN: This is a reference to the oldest log record of the oldest in-progress transaction. This is the oldest log record needed to undo all in-progress transactions.
• Completion Record notes that all work has been done for this particular transaction. (It has been fully committed or aborted)

Cookies

Cookies are small files which are stored on a user’s computer. They are designed to hold a modest amount of data specific to a particular client and website, and can be accessed either by the web server or the client computer. This allows the server to deliver a page tailored to a particular user, or the page itself can contain some script which is aware of the data in the cookie and so is able to carry information from one visit to the website (or related site) to the next.

Writing data to a cookie is usually done when a new webpage is loaded – for example after a ‘submit’ button is pressed the data handling page would be responsible for storing the values in a cookie. If the user has elected to disable cookies then the write operation will fail, and subsequent sites which rely on the cookie will either have to take a default action, or prompt the user to re-enter the information that would have been stored in the cookie.

Why are Cookies Used?

Cookies are a convenient way to carry information from one session on a website to another, or between sessions on related websites, without having to burden a server machine with massive amounts of data storage. Storing the data on the server without using cookies would also be problematic because it would be difficult to retrieve a particular user’s information without requiring a login on each visit to the website.

If there is a large amount of information to store, then a cookie can simply be used as a means to identify a given user so that further related information can be looked up on a server-side database. For example the first time a user visits a site they may choose a username which is stored in the cookie, and then provide data such as password, name, address, preferred font size, page layout, etc. – this information would all be stored on the database using the username as a key. Subsequently when the site is revisited the server will read the cookie to find the username, and then retrieve all the user’s information from the database without it having to be re-entered.

How Long Does a Cookie Last?

The time of expiry of a cookie can be set when the cookie is created. By default the cookie is destroyed when the current browser window is closed, but it can be made to persist for an arbitrary length of time after that.

Who Can Access Cookies?

When a cookie is created it is possible to control its visibility by setting its ‘root domain’. It will then be accessible to any URL belonging to that root. For example the root could be set to “whatarecookies.com” and the cookie would then be available to sites in “www.tindiafreenotes.com” or “xyz.indiafreenotes.com” or “whatarecookies.com”. This might be used to allow related pages to ‘communicate’ with each other. It is not possible to set the root domain to ‘top level’ domains such as ‘.com’ or ‘.co.in’ since this would allow widespread access to the cookie.

By default cookies are visible to all paths in their domains, but at the time of creation they can be retricted to a given subpath.

Cookies Security

There is a lot of concern about privacy and security on the internet. Cookies do not in themselves present a threat to privacy, since they can only be used to store information that the user has volunteered or that the web server already has. Whilst it is possible that this information could be made available to specific third party websites, this is no worse than storing it in a central database. If you are concerned that the information you provide to a webserver will not be treated as confidential then you should question whether you actually need to provide that information at all.

Cookies Tracking

Some commercial websites include embedded advertising material which is served from a third-party site, and it is possible for such adverts to store a cookie for that third-party site, containing information fed to it from the containing site – such information might include the name of the site, particular products being viewed, pages visited, etc. When the user later visits another site containing a similar embedded advert from the same third-party site, the advertiser will be able to read the cookie and use it to determine some information about the user’s browsing history. This enables publishers to serve adverts targetted at a user’s interests, so in theory having a greater chance of being relevant to the user. However, many people see such ‘tracking cookies’ as an invasion of privacy since they allow an advertiser to build up profiles of users without their consent or knowledge.

Shopping card Database

Cyber law is the part of the overall legal system that deals with the Internet, cyberspace, and their respective legal issues. Cyber law covers a fairly broad area, encompassing several subtopics including freedom of expression, access to and usage of the Internet, and online privacy. Generically, cyber law is referred to as the Law of the Internet.

Like any law, a cyber law is created to help protect people and organizations on the Internet from malicious people on the Internet and help maintain order. If someone breaks a cyber law or rule, it allows another person or organization to take action against that person or have them sentenced to a punishment.

Cyber law encompasses laws relating to:

• Cyber crimes
• Electronic and digital signatures
• Intellectual property
• Data protection and privacy

Cyber space includes computers, networks, softwares, data storage devices (such as hard disks, USB disks etc), the internet, websites, emails and even electronic devices such as cell phones, ATM machines etc.

• Any crime with the help of computer and telecommunication technology.
• Any crime where either the computer is used as an object or subject.

Categories of Cyber Crime

1. Cybercrimes against persons
2. Cybercrimes against property
3. Cybercrimes against government

1. Against a Person

• Cyber stalking
• Impersonation
• Loss of Privacy
• Transmission of Obscene Material
• Harassment with the use of computer

2. Against Property

• Unauthorized Computer Trespassing
• Computer vandalism
• Transmission of harmful programmes
• Siphoning of funds from financial institutions
• Stealing secret information & data
• Copyright

3. Against Government

• Hacking of Government websites
• Cyber Extortion
• Cyber Terrorism
• Computer Viruses

Some Other Crimes

• Logic Bombs
• Spamming
• Virus, worms, Trojan Horse
• E-Mail Bombing
• E-Mail abuse etc.

Need For Cyber Law

In today’s techno-savvy environment, the world is becoming more and more digitally sophisticated and so are the crimes. Internet was initially developed as a research and information sharing tool and was in an unregulated manner. As the time passed by it became more transactional with e-business, e-commerce, e-governance and e-procurement etc. All legal issues related to internet crime are dealt with through cyber laws. As the number of internet users is on the rise, the need for cyber laws and their application has also gathered great momentum.

In today’s highly digitalized world, almost everyone is affected by cyber law.

For example:

• Almost all transactions in shares are in demat form.
• Almost all companies extensively depend upon their computer networks and keep their valuable data in electronic form.
• Government forms including income tax returns, company law forms etc. are now filled in electronic form.
• Consumers are increasingly using credit/debit cards for shopping.
• Most people are using email, phones and SMS messages for communication.
• Even in non-cybercrime cases, important evidence is found in computers/cell phones eg: in cases of murder, divorce, kidnapping, tax evasion, organized crime, terrorist operations, counterfeit currency etc.
• Cybercrime cases such as online banking frauds, online share trading fraud, source code theft, credit card fraud, tax evasion, virus attacks, cyber sabotage, phishing attacks, email hijacking, denial of service, hacking, pornography etc. are becoming common.
• Digital signatures and e-contracts are fast replacing conventional method of transacting business.

Cyber Laws in India

In India, cyber laws are contained in the Information Technology Act, 2000 (IT Act) which came into force on October 17, 2000. The main purpose of the Act is to provide legal recognition to electronic commerce and to facilitate filing of electronic records with the Government.

The existing laws of India, even with the most compassionate and liberal interpretation could not be interpreted in the light of the emergency cyberspace, to include all aspects relating to different activities in cyberspace. In fact, the practical experience and the wisdom of judgement found that it shall not be without major threats and pitfalls, if the existing laws were to be interpreted in the scenario of emerging cyberspace, without enacting new cyber laws. Hence, the need for enactment of relevant cyber laws.

None of the existing laws gave any legal validity or sanction to the activities in Cyberspace. For example, the Net is used by a large majority of users for email. Yet till today, email id not legal in our country. There is no law in the country, which gives legal validity, and sanction to email. Courts and judiciary in our country have been reluctant to grant judicial recognition to the legality of email in the absence of any specific law having been enacted by the Parliament. As such the need has arisen for Cyber law.

World and Cyber Laws

• The Great firewall of China monitors every moment in cyber space and protect to publish any offensive content.
• China have a hold on every content which is harmful of dangerous for the government of China.
• Brazil is considered world’s biggest airport for Hackers.
• Iran is also a dangerous country for the Netizens. He also has a Crime Police unit for crime in Cyber Space.

Importance of Cyber Laws

• We are living in highly digitalized world.
• All companies depend upon their computer networks and keep their valuable data in electronic form.
• Government forms including income tax returns, company law forms etc are now filled in electronic form.
• Consumers are increasingly using credit cards for shopping.
• Most people are using email, cell phones and SMS messages for communication.
• Even in non-cybercrime cases, important evidence is found in computers/ cell phones e.g. in cases of divorce, murder, kidnapping, organized crime, terrorist operations, counterfeit currency etc.
• Since it touches all the aspects of transactions and activities on and concerning the Internet, the World Wide Web and Cyberspace therefore Cyber law is extremely important.

When the emphasis was on the need for cyber law or cybersecurity laws, then, it was imperative to implement an IT law in India. Thus, the Information Technology Act, 2000, or also known as the Indian Cyber Act or the Internet Law came to force in India. Since the enactment, the Indian Internet Laws were drafted to bring in view all the electronic records and online/electronic activities to legal recognition. The IT Act also addresses the important issues of security, which are critical to the success of electronic transactions. The Internet Laws in India not only validates digital signatures but also provides for how authentication of the documents, which has been accepted and generated by using the digital signatures, can be done.

As IT Act is a cybersecurity law introduced to secure cyberspace, the Information Technology Law was amended under;

• the Indian Penal Code
• the Indian Evidence Act
• the Banker’s Book Evidence Act
• the Reserve Bank of India

The prime focus of cyber law in India is to prevent:

• computer crime
• forgery of electronic data & record in e-commerce
• electronic transaction

IT Act, 2000 went through amendments in the year 2008. These were made in light of the laws on cybercrime IT Act, 2000 by way of the IT Act, 2008. They were enforced at the beginning of 2009 to strengthen the cybersecurity laws. ​Modifications in the Information Technology Act, 2008 included the change in the definition of some terms such as communication devices. The amendment for the definition of communication device was to include:

• The current use
• To validate the digital signature
• To make the IP address owner accountable
• Impose liability for data breaches

Internet fraud is a type of cybercrime fraud or deception which makes use of the Internet and could involve hiding of information or providing incorrect information for the purpose of tricking victims out of money, property, and inheritance. Internet fraud is not considered a single, distinctive crime but covers a range of illegal and illicit actions that are committed in cyberspace. It is, however, differentiated from theft since, in this case, the victim voluntarily and knowingly provides the information, money or property to the perpetrator. It is also distinguished by the way it involves temporally and spatially separated offenders.

According to the FBI’s 2017 Internet Crime Report, the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) received about 300,000 complaints. Victims lost over $1.4 billion in online fraud in 2017. According to a study conducted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) and McAfee, cybercrime costs the global economy as much as $600 billion, which translates into 0.8% of total global GDP. Online fraud appears in many forms. It ranges from email spam to online scams. Internet fraud can occur even if partly based on the use of Internet services and is mostly or completely based on the use of the Internet.

Example of online automotive fraud

A fraudster uses the web to advertise a nonexistent vehicle, typically a luxury or sports car, at well below its market value. The details of the vehicle, including photos and description, are typically lifted from sites such as Craigslist, AutoTrader.com, or Cars.com. An interested buyer emails the fraudster, who responds saying the car is still available but is located overseas; or that the seller is out of the country but the car is at a shipping company. The fraudster then instructs the victim to send a deposit or full payment via wire transfer to initiate the “shipping” process. To make the transaction appear more legitimate, the fraudster will ask the buyer to send money to a fake agent or other a third party that claims to provide purchase protection. The victims wire the funds but then do not receive the vehicle. In response, auto sales websites may post warnings to buyers which warn not to accept offers in which vehicles are shipped, where funds are paid using Western Union or wire transfer, etc.

Charity fraud

The scammer poses as a charitable organization soliciting donations to help the victims of a natural disaster, terrorist attack (such as the 9/11 attacks), regional conflict, or epidemic. Hurricane Katrina and the 2004 tsunami were popular targets of scammers perpetrating charity scams; other more timeless scam charities purport to be raising money for cancer, AIDS or Ebola virus research, children’s orphanages (the scammer pretends to work for the orphanage or a non-profit associated with it), or impersonates charities such as the Red Cross or United Way. The scammer asks for donations, often linking to online news articles to strengthen their story of a funds drive. The scammer’s victims are charitable people who believe they are helping a worthy cause and expect nothing in return. Once sent, the money is gone and the scammer often disappears, though many attempts to keep the scam going by asking for a series of payments. The victim may sometimes find themselves in legal trouble after deducting their supposed donations from their income taxes. United States tax law states that charitable donations are only deductible if made to a qualified non-profit organization. The scammer may tell the victim their donation is deductible and provide all necessary proof of donation, but the information provided by the scammer is fictional, and if audited, the victim faces stiff penalties as a result of the fraud. Though these scams have some of the highest success rates especially following a major disaster and are employed by scammers all over the world, the average loss per victim is less than other fraud schemes. This is because, unlike scams involving a largely expected payoff, the victim is far less likely to borrow money to donate or donate more than they can spare.

Internet ticket fraud

A variation of Internet marketing fraud offers tickets to sought-after events such as concerts, shows, and sports events. The tickets are fake or are never delivered. The proliferation of online ticket agencies and the existence of experienced and dishonest ticket resellers has fueled this kind of fraud. Many such scams are run by British ticket touts, though they may base their operations in other countries.

A prime example was the global 2008 Beijing Olympic Games ticket fraud run by US-registered “Xclusive Leisure and Hospitality”, sold through a professionally designed website with the name “Beijing 2008 Ticketing”. On 4 August it was reported that more than A$50 million worth of fake tickets had been sold through the website. On 6 August it was reported that the person behind the scam, which was wholly based outside China, was a British ticket tout, Terance Shepherd.

Online gift card fraud

As retailers and other businesses have growing concerns about what they can do about preventing the use of gift cards purchased with stolen credit card numbers, cybercriminals have more recently been focusing on taking advantage of fraudulent gift cards. More specifically, malicious hackers have been trying to get their hands on information pertinent to gift cards that have been issued but not spent. Some of the methods for stealing gift card data include automated bots that launch brute force attacks on retailer systems which store them. First, hackers will steal gift card data, check the existing balance through a retailer’s online service, and then attempt to use those funds to purchase goods or to resell on a third party website. In cases where gift cards are resold, the attackers will take the remaining balance in cash, which can also be used as a method of money laundering. This harms the customer gift card experience, the retailer’s brand perception, and can cost the retailer thousands in revenue. Another way gift card fraud is committed is by stealing a person’s credit card information to purchase brand new gift cards.

Social media and fraud

People tend to disclose more personal information about themselves (e.g. birthday, e-mail, address, hometown and relationship status) in their social networking profiles (Hew 2011). This personally identifiable information could be used by fraudsters to steal users’ identities, and posting this information on social media makes it a lot easier for fraudsters to take control of it.

The problem of authenticity in online reviews is a long-standing and stubborn one. In one famous incident back in 2004, Amazon’s Canadian site accidentally revealed the true identities of thousands of its previously anonymous U.S. book reviewers. One insight the mistake revealed was that many authors were using fake names in order to give their own books favorable reviews. Also, 72% say positive reviews lead them to trust a business more, while 88% say that in “the right circumstances”, they trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations. While scammers are increasingly taking advantage of the power of social media to conduct criminal activity, astute risk managers and their insurance companies are also finding ways to leverage social media information as a tool to combat insurance fraud. For example, an injured worker was out of work on a worker’s compensation claim but could not resist playing a contact sport on a local semi-professional sports team. Through social media and internet searches, investigators discovered that the worker was listed on the team roster and was playing very well.

Types of internet fraud

1. Phishing or email scam

It is a method used by fraudsters to steal your personal information. Under this fraud, fraudsters send you emails by posing as a genuine or reputed company. The primary intention of sending those emails is to steal your bank details.  These emails usually will have a link or attachment. If you click on those links, you will be taken to a fake website. The fake website will ask you to provide your sensitive information like card details, UPI code and other bank details. Also, clicking on such links will lead to a virus attack on your computer.

2. Online shopping frauds

It is one of the biggest internet frauds since the past few years. Under this, fraudsters set up fake online shopping portals with the intention of cheating innocent people of their hard-earned money. In the website, they display attractive product at a very cheap rate. But, after the purchase is made by paying the money, either the fake product is delivered or the product is not delivered at all. These websites will not have any return or refund policies and also there will be no customer support team to contact. 

3. Identity theft

Under identity theft, your personal information is stolen by fraudsters through the internet and used to apply for a personal loan, two-wheeler loan or a credit card with a bank. When loans are availed in your name, you will be responsible for its repayment. Banks will send you the notice for repayment. If the loan is not repaid it will have a bad impact on your credit score and you will be marked a loan defaulter.

Also, the stolen information of yours can be used to create fake social media accounts.

4. Work from home scam

Work from home scam is one of the serious internet fraud. Under this, fraudsters dupe people who are looking for work from home opportunities by promising that they will earn handsome money, just by working for a few hours from home. To register for the scheme, job seekers will be asked to deposit a certain amount of money for job kit which is useful for the work. After the money is deposited, there will be no track of employers.

5. Lottery fraud

Lottery fraud is one among the top three internet frauds in India. Under lottery fraud, fraudsters call you or send emails and messages stating you have won a lottery worth rupees some crore. To receive the lottery money, you will be asked to transfer money online in the name of tax.  Sometimes you will be asked to pay money by visiting fake websites. When you try to make payment using those websites, all your card details will be stolen.

6. Matrimonial frauds

In this busy lifestyle, people prefer online matrimonial sites to find their life partners. But, the sad part here is a lot of people lose lakhs of money while finding their soulmates on the matrimonial sites. Fraudsters dupe innocent people by creating fake profiles. Also, there are many gangs set up to carry out this fraud. Under this fraud, first, fraudsters make victims believe them. Once the trust is created, money is looted from the victims.

7. Tax scams

 This fraud normally takes place during the tax season when taxpayers will be waiting for their tax refund. Fraudsters send fake refund SMS and emails to taxpayers claiming to be from the income tax department. These notifications are mainly sent with the intention of collecting their personal information like login details of I-T Department website, bank details and so on. To credit the refund money to your bank account, you will be asked to provide your sensitive bank information.

8. Credit card reward point fraud

Reward points or loyalty points are offered by the credit card companies to promote the usage of a credit card. Frauds are also taken place in the name of credit card reward point. Fraudsters call credit cardholders claiming to be from their credit card company and tell them that they would help them in redeeming their credit card reward point. They create urgency among cardholders stating offer will end very soon. To redeem the reward points, cardholders will be asked to provide their card details along with OTP. Fraudsters carry out fraudulent transactions using these details. 

9. Frauds on OLX

Frauds on OLX have become very common and many people have lost their money while buying and selling products on the website. The fraud which normally takes place on OLX is, fraudsters pose as Army personnel and post their advertisement on the website.  Fraudsters use the stolen Id card of army personnel to make people trust them. They collect money from the buyer for the advertised product but they will never deliver the product. Here goodwill associated with the armed forces is used by fraudsters to cheat people of their hard-earned money.

10. Social media frauds

With the number of people using social media, social media frauds are on the rise. Cyberbullying is one of the biggest social media fraud to which many teenagers have fallen prey. Under cyberbullying social media sites are used to bully people. Also, there are many other social media frauds like a Facebook friend fraud.

Salient Features of I.T Act

The salient features of the I.T Act are as follows:

• Digital signature has been replaced with electronic signature to make it a more technology neutral act.
• It elaborates on offenses, penalties, and breaches.
• It outlines the Justice Dispensation Systems for cyber-crimes.
• It defines in a new section that cybercafe is any facility from where the access to the internet is offered by any person in the ordinary course of business to the members of the public.
• It provides for the constitution of the Cyber Regulations Advisory Committee.
• It is based on The Indian Penal Code, 1860, The Indian Evidence Act, 1872, The Bankers’ Books Evidence Act, 1891, The Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934, etc.
• It adds a provision to Section 81, which states that the provisions of the Act shall have overriding effect. The provision states that nothing contained in the Act shall restrict any person from exercising any right conferred under the Copyright Act, 1957.

Scheme of I.T Act

The following points define the scheme of the I.T. Act:

• The I.T. Act contains 13 chapters and 90 sections.
• The last four sections namely sections 91 to 94 in the I.T. Act 2000 deals with the amendments to the Indian Penal Code 1860, The Indian Evidence Act 1872, The Bankers’ Books Evidence Act 1891 and the Reserve Bank of India Act 1934 were deleted.
• It commences with Preliminary aspect in Chapter 1, which deals with the short, title, extent, commencement and application of the Act in Section 1. Section 2 provides Definition.
• Chapter 2 deals with the authentication of electronic records, digital signatures, electronic signatures, etc.
• Chapter 11 deals with offences and penalties. A series of offences have been provided along with punishment in this part of The Act.
• Thereafter the provisions about due diligence, role of intermediaries and some miscellaneous provisions are been stated.
• The Act is embedded with two schedules. The First Schedule deals with Documents or Transactions to which the Act shall not apply. The Second Schedule deals with electronic signature or electronic authentication technique and procedure. The Third and Fourth Schedule are omitted.

Application of the I.T Act

As per the sub clause (4) of Section 1, nothing in this Act shall apply to documents or transactions specified in First Schedule. Following are the documents or transactions to which the Act shall not apply −

• Negotiable Instrument (Other than a cheque) as defined in section 13 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881;
• A power-of-attorney as defined in section 1A of the Powers-of-Attorney Act, 1882;
• A trustas defined in section 3 of the Indian Trusts Act, 1882;
• A will as defined in clause (h) of section 2 of the Indian Succession Act, 1925 including any other testamentary disposition;
• Any contract for the sale or conveyance of immovable property or any interest in such property;
• Any such class of documents or transactions as may be notified by the Central Government.

Amendments Brought in the I.T Act

The I.T. Act has brought amendment in four statutes vide section 91-94. These changes have been provided in schedule 1-4.

• The first schedule contains the amendments in the Penal Code. It has widened the scope of the term “document” to bring within its ambit electronic documents.
• The second schedule deals with amendments to the India Evidence Act. It pertains to the inclusion of electronic document in the definition of evidence.
• The third schedule amends the Banker’s Books Evidence Act. This amendment brings about change in the definition of “Banker’s-book”. It includes printouts of data stored in a floppy, disc, tape or any other form of electromagnetic data storage device. Similar change has been brought about in the expression “Certified-copy” to include such printouts within its purview.
• The fourth schedule amends the Reserve Bank of India Act. It pertains to the regulation of fund transfer through electronic means between the banks or between the banks and other financial institution.

Intermediary Liability

Intermediary, dealing with any specific electronic records, is a person who on behalf of another person accepts, stores or transmits that record or provides any service with respect to that record.

According to the above mentioned definition, it includes the following:

• Telecom service providers
• Network service providers
• Internet service providers
• Web-hosting service providers
• Search engines
• Online payment sites
• Online auction sites
• Online market places and cyber cafes

Highlights of the Amended Act

The newly amended act came with following highlights:

• It stresses on privacy issues and highlights information security.
• It elaborates Digital Signature.
• It clarifies rational security practices for corporate.
• It focuses on the role of Intermediaries.
• New faces of Cyber Crime were added.

A smart card is a special type of card like device which contains an integrated circuit chip embedded on it. The IC chip can be a microprocessor with memory or just simple memory circuit. In simple layman’s words, a smart card is the card with which we can exchange the data, store it and manipulate data.

A smart card is connected to the host computer or controller via a card reader which gets information from the smart card and accordingly passes the information to the host computer or controller.

A smart card is a special type of card like device which contains an integrated circuit chip embedded on it. The IC chip can be a microprocessor with memory or just simple memory circuit. In simple layman’s words, a smart card is the card with which we can exchange the data, store it and manipulate data.

How does the Smart Card Works?

A smart card is connected to the host computer or controller via a card reader which gets information from the smart card and accordingly passes the information to the host computer or controller.

A smart card reader is a device to which the smart card is connected either directly or indirectly using RF communication. It interfaces with the PC or a microcontroller using USB port or RS232 serial ports. It can be a contact or contactless reader.

2 Types of Smart Card based on Connection to the Smart Card Reader

Contact Smart Card:  This type of smart card consists of electrical contacts which are used to connect to the card reader where the card is inserted. The electrical contacts are deployed on a conductive gold plated coating on the card surface.

Contactless Smart Card: This type of smart card communicates with the reader without any physical contact. Rather it consists of an antenna with which it is used to communicate using Radio Frequency band with the antenna on the reader. It usually receives power from the reader via the electromagnetic signal.

2 Types of Smart Cards based on their Functionalities and Configuration

Memory Cards: These are cards which only consist of memory circuits. It can only store, read and write data to a particular location. The data cannot be processed or manipulated. It can be a straight memory card which is only used to store data or a protected memory card with a restricted access to the memory and which can be used to write data. It can also be a rechargeable or a disposable card which contains memory units which can be used only once.

Microprocessor Based Cards: These cards consist of microprocessor embedded onto the chip in addition to the memory blocks. It also consists of specific sections of files with each file associated with a particular function. The data in files and the memory allocation is managed via an operating system which can be a fixed operating system or dynamic operating system. It allows for data processing and manipulations and can be used for multi functioning.

Advantages of Smart Card:

• Might be promptly reconfigured
• Reusable
• Secure transactions
• Gives more security
• More tough and dependable
• Permit numerous provisions to be saved in one card

Areas of Smart Card Applications:

• Telecommunications: The most prominent use of smart card technology is in the development of SIM card or Subscriber Identity Module. A SIM card provides unique identification to each subscriber and provides network access to each subscriber and manages its authentication.
• Domestic: The most frequently used smart card in domestic field is the DTH smart card. This card provides authorized access to the information coming from the satellites. In simple words the card with which we can get access to the Direct to Home TV services is nothing but a smart card. The information is encrypted and decrypted within a smart card.
• Ecommerce and Retail: Smart card can be used to store information like a person’s account details, the transaction details and can be used in purchasing goods online by acting as a credit card. Some retailers can also use smart cards to store points for a particular customer and provide necessary incentives to repeated customers.
• Banking Application: The most prominent use of smart card in banking application is the replacement of the traditional magnetic stripe based credit or debit card. An example is the MasterCard and VISA.
• Government Applications: Smart cards are being used by Government to issue identity cards to individual, which contains all the details of the individual. An example is the recently started Adhar card scheme in India.
• Secured Physical access: Smart cards can be used by Organizations or differed public areas to provide authorized access to the employees (members of the organization) or other persons to the secured areas. The smart card generally contains identity details of the individual which is scanned and checked.

Accumulated Balance simply means sum total of gradually gathering or acquiring in an increasing number or quantity of. Accumulated balance is the total amount example if an investment or insurance, the investments currently holds, including the capital invested and the interest (gain) it has earned to date. Accumulated balance is important in the insurance field because it refers to the total acquired value of a whole (or universal) life insurance policy. It is calculated as the sum or total of the initial investment, plus interest earned to date. Accumulated balance is also referred to as accumulated amount or cash value.

If you are having purchased an asset on hire purchase (asset purchased in instalments), difference between your monthly payment and the actual amount is balance. The accumulated balance may be credit(overstated) or debit(understated).

And if you have accounting knowledge, then accumulated balance is used in trial balance which is derived from an asset, liability or capital account.

Accumulate means to add to, increase, or grow. So an accumulated balance is one that grows or has grown. For example, we took a total of $2000 in depreciation up to now. So right now, the accumulated depreciation account has a balance of $2000. If we took $100 in depreciation this month, that would bring the accumulated depreciation account balance up to $2100. So accumulated = another word for running total. And it stores amounts that increase as time goes by.

Accumulated depreciation is the cumulative depreciation of an asset that has been recorded. Fixed assets like property, plant, and equipment are long-term assets. Depreciation expenses a portion of the cost of the asset in the year it was purchased and each year for the rest of the asset’s useful life. Accumulated depreciation allows investors and analysts to see how much of a fixed asset’s cost has been depreciated.