Spam Scams
Some common scams recur in spam over and over again. Spam scams are often based on tried-and-tested scams that have moved to email, because of the relative ease by which it is then possible to reach those susceptible to the pitch of the trickster. Report scams, and other spam, by tracing the spammers and with these addresses. Remember, if it seems too good to be true, it probably is.
| Sites describing, and advising on actions to take about, common Internet based scams. | |
| Advance-Fee Fraud depends on convincing the victim of the fraud to send money or goods (the “advance fee”) to the scammer, in the expectation of future reward that far exceeds the temporary cost to the victim; the reward never arrives. | |
| Phishing uses fake emails and websites to entice a user into disclosing usernames, passwords and creditcard details to the scammer. | |
| A "money mule" is required to launder the funds obtained as a result of phishing and other online scams, and for more traditional money laundering. | |
| Programs which dial premium rate numbers to access a bespoke site, usually of an adult nature. | |
| Health offers via spam fall into two camps; online and dubious pharmacies, and unbelieveable claims of miracle cures. | |
| Emails pushing a stock or share in the financial interest of the sender. | |
| Schemes which are based on paying the previous tier to enter. They are variously known as Make Money Fast (MMF), Multi-Level Marketing (MLM) or pyramid schemes. | |
| Fake Universities who take your money so you can lie to people about having a degree. | |
| OEM software offers via spam are for pirated software, and it is likely that anyone ordering goods from the advertised website will get no software and a big credit card bill. | |
| Fake stores are store fronts set up that misrepresent themselves as selling a product which is sold by someone else or is available for free. | |
| Self-proclaimed "Search Engine Optimizers" sometimes use spammed link exchange requests in an attempt to get links to their clients sites and so manipulate search engines. The requests are spam, and the service is a scam. | |
| Hoaxes or urban legends can seem initially plausible, but fail to hold up to even cursory scrutiny. |
everything you didn't want to have to know about spam
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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License. SPAM is a trademark of Hormel Foods.
Page last updated: 19-May-2007
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License. SPAM is a trademark of Hormel Foods.
Page last updated: 19-May-2007