Affiliates can do a lot to protect themselves from those who would take advantage of them by dealing with companies that have good reputations in the offline world, and carefully doing their research on the online-only ones. Affiliate Networks have also put into place strong regulations for the purpose of thwarting and blacklisting serious offenders. But where theres easy money to be made, the unscrupulous flock.

No matter how they attempt to protect themselves, it is still very possible for an affiliate to be hit with one of the scams of dishonest companies. These include cybersquatters who steal or mimic domains and funnel away money while injuring their reputations, abusers of pay-per-click programs, merchants who never intended to pay commissions, hackers and more.

What recourse does an affiliate have? In response to these cyber crimes, the US government has established the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3). It is a partnership between the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the National White Collar Crime Center (NW3C). Its charge is to serve as a focal point for businesses to report cyber crimes, where they are researched, and referred to the proper federal, state and local law enforcement agencies.

By reporting and following up on the status of their reports of illegal activities, affiliates can not only further the resolution of crimes against their companies. They will be assisting in industry-wide recognition of the worst offenders, helping to bring to light the newest twists in illegal activities at a level where information can be assimilated and distributed for an effective counter-attack. Its up to all of us. Bookmark www.ic3.gov.