Communications and Media

Introduction
Hackers and fraud is a major problem facing the world   as far as adoption of ICT technology is concerned

Hacking and online frauds constitute  cyber crimes which can be traced back to 1960s after discovery of computers (St Petersburg Times, 2010)

Hackers and online fraudsters are motivated by different  factors including economic gain or just for pleasure

Cyber crime has negative social, political, and economic impact in the country

The confidence in use of e-commerce has been greatly hampered by online frauds as most people fear disclosing their private information

Unless government comes up with strict enforcement mechanism hacker and fraud may hamper future growth of e-commerce

Hackers and Fraud
The major problem with hacking and online fraud is that it has far reaching social, political, and economic impact

In 2009, FBI recorded 336,655 complaint, an increase of 22.3 from 2008 (FBI, 2010)
The total loss from all the reported crimes was 559.7 million which was up from 264.6 million loss reported in 2008 (FBI, 2010)

As the number of cyber fraud increases, the types of frauds are also increasing. The leading frauds include auction fraud, non-delivery of merchandises, credit card fraud, intrusion into personal computers, spam or unsolicited email, child pornography, and others (Fafinski, 2009).

With hackers being able to access personal information, they are likely to use it for economic gains, like credit buying, which means the owner will be left with economic burden

Fear of hackers and online fraud has instilled pessimism to many people who  cannot use their personal information online for fear of falling victims to hackers and online fraud (Fafinski, 2009)

There are many causes of hacking and online fraud
There are different types of hackers and online fraudster including those who do it for fun or those who do it for economic gain

According to theories of crime, motivating factors to cyber crimes including readily available victim, lack of monetary input to commit the crime, high returns from the crime, and complexities of the crime which makes it difficult for law enforcement to catch up with them (Williams, 2006).

To overcome the problem, different solutions need to be adopted
The government should put more enforcement mechanism
Best strategies to fight the crime include (Raines, 2010)

Always keep your cards safe
Use complex passwords that  are difficult to guess mixing both letters and numbers
Always erase your history after using a computer
Dont give personal information to persons or companies you cannot trust
Ensure your personal computer has update anti virus and anti spy ware programs

Conclusion
Hacking and online fraud is a major problem inhibiting on the growth of e-commerce
It has social and economic impact
Prevention of the problem should be at personal and government level