UAB Professors Win Google Research Award to Study Home Business Cyber Scams

Birmingham AL – UAB Professors Win Google Research Award to Study Home Business Cyber Scams

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Two professors in the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Department of Justice Sciences have won a Google Research Award to study cyber scams involving the illegal use of the Google brand.
UAB Associate Professor Kent Kerley, Ph.D., and Associate Professor J. Heith Copes, Ph.D., will focus their research on online scams that promise unsuspecting consumers the chance to start their own home-based business – but leave them with bills instead of a paycheck.

“Many fraudsters have begun using Google’s name in various ‘work-at-home’ ads to create the impression that Google is involved,” said Kerley. “After paying a ‘setup fee’ to work at home, victims are automatically signed up for recurring subscriptions to bogus services. Typically victims have only 24 hours to un-enroll, and before they realize it, their credit cards are charged several times. The average victim loses about $300.”

The number of individuals and businesses operating fraudulent activities using the Google brand appears to be growing, said Copes. Schemes linked to the illegal use of the Google brand have included Google Adwork, Google Biz Kit, Google Cash, Google StartUp Kit and The Home Business Kit for Google.
For their research, Kerley and Copes will use data from the Internet Crime Complaint Center. The two will use the data to track cyber crimes involving the misuse of the Google brand, determine the economic impact on victims, create a demographic profile of victims and document what cyber thieves have promised unsuspecting consumers.
“We will use the results of the study to develop ways to identify these types of crimes more quickly,” said Copes. “This could then lead to public service announcements and other educational activities produced by Google to warn consumers about the misuse of its brand and resources.”

The study is just one of several research projects to be conducted at UAB through a joint collaboration between UAB Department of Justice Sciences, the Internet Crime Complaint Center and the National White Collar Crime Center.