Before people get smarter and figure out when something they see on the internet is a scam; many scammers took advantage of it by developing scams, which were sometimes fun and sometimes sucked the world’s money.
Here are the 5 most characteristic:
The Nigerian
This is one of the oldest online scams since the beginning of the internet. Someone from a country (often Nigeria, but not always) communicates with the victim via email in broken English. He explains that a rich man he knows personally has died and the money has nowhere to go! He then explains to the victim that if he can help him get the money out of the country, he will give him some as a reward!
If the victim bites the bait, they will constantly ask him for money to cover various “expenses” related to the movement of capital, until he realizes that all this time they are stealing him!
Because of their reputation, these types of emails now go straight to the “spam folder”, so you will probably have not see them for long time.
Fraud with customer service
One of the most classic scams on the internet in recent years, is the one with “technical support”. In this type of scam, someone calls you and pretends to be from “Microsoft” or a computer security company. They convince you that your computer is infected with some kind of malware and encourage you to let them remotely control your computer.
Doing so, they can cause real damage to your system, stealing your data, or installing “ransomware” (malware that locks your files). Then they will try to sell you a useless “security suite”, or demand payment for their “services”; and the irony is that they are upset if you refuse.
Promote this […] otherwise you will die in seven days!
OK, today this concept may seem to an internet user completely blatantly a scam, since it reminds of Samara from “The Ring”, but then the internet was more fishing.
Usually the person threatening in the email was seven-year-old Teddy, who said that if you did not forward this email to twelve people, he would come to your sleep to kill you! He then cites real “cases” of people who did not send it. Apparently in one of them the woman —who did not send the e-mail— while sleeping on her couch, saw the screen flickering and then a child was thrown out and killed her! The scam was not meant to suck something out, it was just nonsense.
Congratulations, you are the 999999th visitor!
Where you were carefree and discovering the internet, suddenly, a banner appeared, sometimes there was a “pop up” page, which said that you are the numbered visitor and for this reason you earn a huge amount, or something vague!
In case you visited the link, it directed you to a lottery page, which asked for personal information in order to give you your winnings! At best, you kept seeing “popping up” windows, at worst, they stole your personal information and had access to your credit card, for example.
The music scam
In the past, people downloaded music in “mp3” format from various programs, such as “Limewire”. Of course, many of these “mp3s” contained a virus, so when you downloaded them you also get a virus, but the classic was the scam with the second audio:
There was a voice in this audio —apparently computer-generated— giving investment advice, urging the victim to invest in “penny stocks”, which they present as “their own shares”. It sounds ridiculous to you now, but then a lot of people were biting the bait.
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