Three men were charged with cyber fraud by a United States grand jury. Their scheme involved using phony Internet ads claiming, to unsuspecting people and businesses, their computer was infected with virus, malware and other malicious software.

Part of staying at the forefront of fraud prevention is examining the vulnerabilities on both the business and consumer side of everyday transactions.

Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and other popular social networking sites are coming under federal scrutiny both here in the U.S. and abroad over their privacy settings for users accounts.

When consumers and business operators outside of the fraud prevention industry consider cyber threats such as phishing and data mining, they may picture complex homemade software and teams of brilliant programmers.

A common misconception among consumers and some businesses is that Apple’s Mac line is invulnerable to the malicious software and crippling hacks that plague users of Microsoft Windows.

Visa has issued a warning that financial institutions should be on high alert for criminal activity.

Some say that the best defense is a strong offense. In the world of fraud prevention and online security, what better offense is available than training your employees to look for the same vulnerabilities as hackers and identity thieves?

No matter how well you think you know the tactics employed by identity thieves, the fast paced and deceptive nature of business fraud can still be surprising.