Online Scams: What's Behind the Scams? Antivirus Total Security

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  The advent of the Internet also corresponds to the growing development of scams, facilitated by new technologies: online crooks come into contact with their victims by email or through social networks and manipulate them with treacherous methods. Online scams take many forms, from romance scams to empty promises of money and inheritance by email. But what exactly are online scams, also known as scamming? What forms do they take? How do scammers operate and how can we protect ourselves against them?

What is Scamming?

Scamming, from English scam which means a scam, scam, refers to online scams. The term brings together a whole bunch of online scams. Their common point is often to request an advance payment from the victim, regardless of the reason. Scammers often promise a good profit, inheritance or return on investment in return.

When the criminals receive the money, contact with the victim is usually severed immediately. The promised result will never happen, and the money invested is usually definitely lost. Contact is often made by email, but also via chat portals like Messenger, social networks and dating sites. Fraudsters are also present on online real estate and used car sales sites, but also on job search sites.

This type of mail scam has been around for centuries, but it really was in the 1980s that it became a mass phenomenon, first in Nigeria. It all started with the fall in the price of oil and high inflation, leading to increased poverty in the country. Fraudsters began to send letters and faxes on a massive scale to Western businessmen: they claimed to belong to financial organizations, able to deliver crude oil to them at bargain prices, for which, however, they had to pay in advanced. The “ Nigeria-Connection“has since become the very symbol of scamming. Even today, a lot of online scam emails come from Nigeria and other West African countries. The phenomenon has now become global, crooks and victims being spread across the globe, behind their computer screens.

The process is the same as several decades ago, only the degree of sophistication has changed: In the meantime, the mails have become more and more credible, with professional headers, email addresses, websites and phone numbers, as well as quality logos. In this way, they can very easily be confused with genuine folds from lawyers, property managers, banks or lottery companies. Scamming emails have also become more professional: the time when you could spot scams with gross spelling and grammar errors are over. These emails sometimes contain attachments containing malware, capable of spying on data contained in the victim's computer. Finally, scams on social networks have also gained in credibility, in particular, thanks to the presence of fake profiles: everything is designed to make it appear that a scammer is a real person. Public social media profiles provide criminals with all the data necessary to substantiate their message with details about the victim's private or professional life when they contact them.

Love scams

The love scam is commonly used these days. Through Messenger or online dating sites, crooks establish an intimate relationship with their victim. They constantly compliment them and feign true love. The victims generally feel flattered, and unwillingly enter into a relationship of emotional dependence on the fraudsters. These make the victim dangle a real encounter in prospect, which they themselves give the impression of impatiently waiting, but it is always money that they ask for first. In addition to the pretext of buying a plane ticket, the money claimed is generally justified by dramatic events, such as covering hospital costs or buying medicines for imaginary children.

The love scam is doubly painful for those affected: the scam is not only financial, but it is also emotional since, often, the victims believe they have met true love. Scammers shamelessly take advantage of the feelings and loneliness of their victims. Unfortunately, many Internet users still fall into this trap and end up paying, convinced that there is real intimacy with their correspondent: indeed, the crooks often make-believe that they feel unconditional love and that they themselves their would be happy to finance expensive plane tickets or moves. They ask for the money for their plane ticket shortly before departure, so it is difficult for many victims to refuse. They also appeal to the victim's empathy, playing on the sensitive chord, which makes a possible refusal even more delicate.

This scam has grown significantly as online dating sites have grown in number and popularity; every day, thousands of fake profiles are created there. The FBI has estimated that in the United States, love scammers extorted around $ 80 million from numerous victims in the second half of 2014 alone. This is because scammers spare no effort. : they even give phone numbers and don't hesitate to call their victims personally. Besides their fake profile, they also create many other accounts which they add as friends, in order not to appear socially isolated and to give more credibility to their character. 

Housing scams

The plague of online scams also extends to housing, as crooks post fake real estate ads online at ridiculous prices. Most of the time, these accommodations are located in large cities, in desirable neighbourhoods, to quickly attract the attention of victims. In order not to meet tenants or buyers in person, scammers often make it appear as if they are travelling abroad. When exchanging emails, they establish a relationship of trust with the victim and present themselves in a sympathetic manner. Sometimes they even go so far as to send fake vacation photos: these have naturally been stolen or edited, just like the photos of the dream accommodation.

At some point, the scammer asks the victim to pay the deposit and the first months of rent in advance., which quickly amounts to several thousand euros. People looking for accommodation are sometimes desperate and some agree to pay this sum, even after never having visited the apartment in question. This type of scam is particularly successful in large cities, where the real estate market is very tight. People who, for months, are totally absorbed in their search for the ideal accommodation, are easy prey. In this sense, the housing scam is quite close to the love scam, since these two forms of scams shamelessly abuse the personal situation of the victim. Likewise, online criminals can also take advantage of the rush to find a job.

Job scams

This type of online scam lures victims into offering a perfect job, with great pay and few hours of work. Like cheap housing in prime neighbourhoods, these ads often sound too good to be true. However, many people looking for a job fall into the trap. Usually, these are not advertisements per se, but a brief description accompanied only by a telephone number for contact, which the victim should call for more information. Immediately after a fake telephone conversation, the victim is promised a job interview. As a rule, he is asked to make a transfer in advance, to pay for professional equipment, a uniform, shoes, etc.

As with other online scams, the scammer stops contact with the victim when they receive their money. This never results in an employment contract, and the ordered item never arrives. Particularly beware of job advertisements for “financial adviser” positions for which only a bank account is required: this is most likely money laundering, which in itself is already subject to prosecution. The victim is duped and their bank account used to transfer money from other online scams to their sponsors who live abroad.

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