Scamming: What Is Behind the Scam | Free Antivirus

In the age of the Internet, scamming - a collective term for various forms of advance fraud - has reached a new dimension: Internet fraudsters are reaching more and more victims via email and social networks and using perfidious methods to fool them. The forms of online scamming are diverse and range from so-called "romance scamming" to empty promises of money or inheritance via e-mail. But what exactly is scamming? What forms are there? What do the scammers do and how can you protect yourself?

What Is Scamming?

Scamming is derived from the English term for "fraud" or "swindle" (scam). The term is closely related to the criminological term of advance fraud but includes many different forms of this form of fraud, especially online. What they all have in common is that the fraudsters try to persuade their victims to pay money ("advance payment") by stating false facts. At the same time, you promise resulting profits, inheritances or significantly higher repayments.

Once the payment has been received by the criminals, the contact is usually broken off immediately. The promises are not fulfilled and the money paid is mostly irretrievably lost. Contact is usually made online via e-mail, but now also via chat portals, messengers, social networks and dating platforms. The fraudsters have even spread to online marketplaces for real estate, jobs or used cars.

The scam has been around for centuries via letter post, but it wasn't until the 1980s that the procedure became a mass phenomenon originating in Nigeria. In the wake of the collapse in oil prices, high inflation rates and the resulting poverty in Nigeria, some fraudsters sent masses of forged letters via mail or fax to business people in western countries. They pretended to come from financial institutions that could deliver crude oil to the addressees at a low price - but only if an advance payment was made. The "Nigeria Connection" has since become the epitome of scamming. Even today, many scamming emails come from Nigeria and other West African countries. The phenomenon has nonetheless become global - victims and perpetrators are sitting in front of computers around the globe.

However, the dubious letters have become more professional: it is not uncommon for the attached documents to look deceptively real, have elaborately forged logos or try to appear even more authentic by spying on the victim's personal information. Websites, phone numbers and entire networks of fake accounts are set up to make the scammers look like real people. Public profiles in social networks provide the criminals with the data they need to support the letters with details about the victim's professional or private life. Scamming e-mails can also contain attachments with malware that, for example, spy out data from the victim's computer.

What Forms of Online Scamming Are There and How Do They Work?

There are many different forms of online scamming. Usually, the goal of the criminals is the same: They want to deprive the victims of their savings. They lure with the love of life, a fortune, a dirt-cheap apartment or the dream job, for which, however, certain services are to be provided: As a rule, deposits or an alleged plane ticket for the first date are to be paid by the victims in advance. Here are four examples of how online scamming works:

Romance-Scamming

So-called romance scamming is widespread nowadays: the fraudsters use messengers and dating platforms to build a close relationship with their victims, compliment them and fake supposedly true love. The victims quickly feel flattered and often become emotionally dependent on the fraudsters. While they always hold out the prospect of a personal meeting and pretend that they are looking forward to it, they first ask for money. Most of the time they demand payments for dramatic occasions and pretend that the money is necessary for the date: Usually, the fraudsters want to buy a plane ticket, cover alleged hospital costs, or they have to buy drugs or look after fictional children.

Romance scamming is a particularly painful experience for those affected in two ways: The victims are ripped off not only financially, but also emotionally. Most of them have made great hopes that they have found great love. The fraudsters shamelessly take advantage of the emotions and loneliness of their victims. Unfortunately, many Internet users still fall for this scam and are more willing to pay the money due to a supposed familiarity: Because the swindlers often believe their victims to have an absolutely unconditional love for which they would accept expensive flights or relocations themselves. If they then ask for money shortly before the supposed departure, many victims find it difficult to refuse payment. It also appeals to the victims' sympathy, which makes the rejection even more difficult for many of those affected.

The scam is experiencing a real boom since dating over the Internet has become more and more popular and promising: Thousands of fake profiles are created every day. The FBI counted around 80 million US dollars in the second half of 2014, which was transferred to romance scammers from the USA alone. Not least because the swindlers are making ever greater efforts: They even give phone numbers and do not shy away from personal phone calls. In addition to the actual profile, they also fake numerous others and make friends with one another to make the fictitious people on the platforms appear authentic and not socially isolated.

Scamming with False Promises of Money

The classic: E-mails with promises of money have been part of the standard scamming repertoire since the early days of the Internet. They go back directly to the methods of the Nigeria Connection from the 1980s and appeal to the desire of their victims for "quick money". For example, faking inheritance from distant relatives, alleged payments from a family treasure, false lottery prizes or letters from benefactors who want to install the addressee with a generous commission as the administrator of a large donation are common. In most cases, an advance payment for alleged processing fees, notary fees or taxes is required for the payment of the amount of money.

Even with this form of scamming, the paid money is lost, the contract is broken off after receipt of the requested amount. The promised amount will never be paid out - especially since straw men are usually installed from whose accounts the transferred money is immediately transferred abroad. Often these people are themselves cheated, who are hired as so-called financial agents and may not even know where the money comes from that you are supposed to transfer.

The process is the same as it was decades ago, but the deception is more and more sophisticated: In the meantime, the letters with professional letterheads and e-mail addresses as well as lavish logos work quickly like authentic letters from lawyers, estate administrators, lottery companies or banks. Scamming emails are also linguistically more demanding - the days when fake emails could easily be exposed through spelling and grammatical errors are over.

Apartment-Scamming

The fraudsters are not only up to speed on dating, but also on real estate portals: they place fake real estate advertisements at ridiculous prices. The apartments are mostly located in very popular districts of larger cities so that the victims' interest is quickly aroused. In order not to have to meet interested tenants or buyers of the fictitious apartment in person, they always state that they work or travel abroad. In exchanging emails, they build trust and often even present themselves on holiday photos that seem likeable - of course, these are just as fake or stolen as the photos of the supposed dream apartment.

At some point, the suggestion comes to pay the deposit and the first months rent in advance - that quickly adds up to several thousand euros. In the desperation of many apartment hunters, the money is often paid anyway - without even having viewed the apartment once. The fraudsters are particularly successful in cities with a very tight housing market: Those who spend months looking for an apartment in the country's metropolises have to put up with a lot to finally be able to move into their dream apartment. Apartment and romance scams are very similar: Both variants ruthlessly exploit the victims' personal situation.

Job-Scamming

Internet criminals take advantage of the plight of job seekers in a very similar way: They lure people with a dream job, top salaries and few hours of work. Similar to the cheap apartments in top locations, such offers sound too good to be true. Even so, many people who are looking for work fall for them. Since the most unspecific advertisements only give a telephone number for making contact, you have to call directly for more information. The acceptance usually comes immediately after a bogus telephone interview. As a rule, the victims should then transfer money for work materials, uniforms or shoes in advance.

If the fraudsters receive the money, contact is broken off. There is never an employment contract and the supposedly purchased goods are never delivered. Even more, caution is required if the job offer involves a position as a "financial agent" or with similar designations for which only an account is required: In that case, it is very likely an offer for money laundering, with which you yourself negotiates a possible criminal complaint. Such accounts are misused, for example, to transfer the money stolen by scamming to the real masterminds abroad.

How Can You Protect Yourself from Scams?

The most effective way to protect yourself from scams is a healthy dose of scepticism on the Internet: Care is required wherever money is to be transferred in advance. Therefore, never transfer money to strangers who you have never met personally - no matter how serious, sympathetic or even loving these people may appear. Although the spam filters of many e-mails providers already catch a large part of the dubious e-mails, a scamming e-mail can still find its way into a regular mailbox from time to time. The best thing to do is to delete such spam emails immediately or move them to the spam folder. Do not reply to dubious e-mails with questionable content and do not trust any offers that you receive out of the blue from completely unknown people.

The same applies to dating portals, real estate platforms and job exchanges: If an offer is too good to be true, you should be very careful. It is best to arrange a personal meeting in a public place, a proper apartment viewing or an on-site interview. If the Internet acquaintance waves, you should look elsewhere. Under no circumstances should you comply with any monetary demands made by the stranger.

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What Can Those Affected Do?

If you have already been a victim of scamming, you should secure all evidence: do not delete the emails you received from the scammers and your replies. The same applies to faxes and letters from criminals. The messages could contain important clues that could help the police investigate. You should also file a criminal complaint accordingly. The officers at your local police station will explain all the next steps to you.