Online Scam Taxonomy: The many ways to trick us

Phising Scams

Phishing scams are fraudulent attempts to obtain sensitive information – like usernames, passwords, and credit card details – by posing as a trustworthy entity, often via email, phone calls, or fake websites. Phishing scams can be further categorized into the following subcategories:

Email

Phishing emails are a common method used for tricking recipients into revealing personal information or clicking on malicious links or attachments.

Smishing

“Smishing” is a term derived from SMS Phishing which is a form of text message scam. A scam text might impersonate a bank or a government entity claiming an urgent need for account verification. Smishing tricks individuals into sharing sensitive information or clicking on malicious links, similar to email phishing but via text messages.

Quishing

Quishing is a term derived from QR Code Phishing. It’s a type of phishing attack that uses a fake QR code to deceive victims into disclosing sensitive information or downloading malicious software.

Vishing

Vishing is a term derived from Voice Phishing. Scammers use phone calls/voice phishing to impersonate legitimate entities, often using threats or urgent scenarios to manipulate individuals into disclosing personal or financial information. A common example is technical support calls about a Windows PC.

Financial Fraud

Deceptive scams designed to trick individuals or organizations into providing money or sensitive financial information all under false pretenses. Financial fraud is designed to exploit victims mainly for monetary gain.

Shopping Scams

Shopping scams involve fraudulent online stores or sellers offering goods at attractive prices, but either never deliver the products, or then provide counterfeit or inferior items. Victims might pay for items that never arrive or don’t match the advertised descriptions.

Pyramid & Ponzi Schemes

Pyramid Schemes are fraudulent attempt to make money solely based on recruiting new participants to the chain. The structure of a pyramid scheme resembles a pyramid, with a few individuals at the top who expand the base by recruiting people below them. Participants are typically required to make an initial payment or investment to join, with fake promises of significant returns as reward for recruiting others.

Ponzi Schemes are an investment scam where returns are supposedly paid to current investors using funds provided by new investors. This misleads investors into thinking that profits arise from genuine business activities, whereas they come from the contributions made by new participants.

Investment Fraud

Fraudulent schemes promising high returns on investment, often using fake companies or businesses to lure victims into investing.

Loan Scam

A scammer requires borrowers to provide an upfront fee – but does not give the promised loan after getting the fee.

Debt Relief

Offers related to debt reduction. This includes fake discounts offered to students to settle their study loan. Scammers often target people facing substantial amounts of debt, such as credit card debt, medical bills, or other financial obligations. The scammers exploit the vulnerable financial situations of their victims by claiming to provide effective solutions for debt relief.

Real Estate Scam

Fake real estate listings for rental properties or properties for sale, mainly aiming to extract money or personal information from interested parties.

Impersonation Scams

Scammers impersonate a trusted person or entity to deceive victims into providing money, information, or access to sensitive data.

Identity Theft

Identity theft occurs when someone steals your personal information or possessions so they can use your identity such as name, social security number, or financial details, with the intent to commit financial fraud, gain unauthorized access to resources, or engage in other deceptive activities. These scams often involve tricking or manipulating individuals into divulging their sensitive information, either through online methods, social engineering, or other deceitful tactics.

Emotional Manipulation

Exploiting emotions to gain money or personal information.

Romance

Exploiting emotions to gain money or personal information through fake romantic relationships.

HealthCare

Offering deceptive health products through fake medical treatments and promising miraculous cures.

Lottery

Lottery or Sweepstakes Scams occur when victims are told they need to pay fees or provide personal information to claim a prize, which they never receive.

Charity

Asking for donations to fake charities or causes, especially after natural disasters or during times of crisis.

Sextortion

Blackmailing a victim or threatening to publish nude images or videos, unless the victim pays a demanded price.

Online Tech

Pretending to provide tech support to gain access to a device or to get money.

Tech Support

Scammers impersonate tech support agents, claiming issues with the victim’s computer or device, and offering to fix them for a fee. Scammers use this method to install malware or steal personal information.

Individual

Scams targeting specific individuals for financial gain or personal information

Gaming

Targeting gamers to steal their accounts for financial gain.

Voting scams is a type of gaming scam first appeared in 2022 and are used to steal Steam accounts. The attack starts in a Steam or a Discord channel, with a message appearing to be from a friend, asking the victim to follow a link and vote for their team. The link directs to a phishing page. Once they click on it, their Steam account goes to the attacker.

Tax Scams

Emails or fake calls pretending as tax authority demanding payment or personal information.

Job Scams

Scammers creates fake job offers that aim to exploit job seekers by requesting upfront payment for training, background checks, or other fake expenses. They also pose as employers or recruiters reaching out to victims with a fake job offer and request their money or personal information.

Business

Scams targeting companies, businesses or organizations for financial fraud, data theft, or ransom demands.

Ransomware

Deploying malicious software to infiltrate a computer system or network, encrypt data, and request a ransom payment from the victim in return for restoring data access. This deceptive practice involves coercive tactics, wherein attackers threaten to permanently delete or restrict access to the victim’s files unless the demanded ransom is paid. Ransomware scams may focus on individuals, businesses, or governmental organizations, frequently taking advantage of software vulnerabilities or employing social engineering methods to gain system access.

Whaling / Spear Phishing

Whaling or known as CEO Fraud is a type of spear phishing targeting high-profile individuals like CEOs or executives. Attackers aim to trick these individuals into authorizing financial transactions or revealing sensitive corporate information.

Elderly

Elderly scams exploit the vulnerabilities of older individuals, often through phone calls or emails, taking advantage of their trust or lack of familiarity with technology.

Government impersonation

Scammers call an elderly person impersonating a government officer (IRS, social security administration, Medicare, etc.). Imposters may also warn about unpaid taxes and then threaten with immediate arrest or deportation. They may also threaten about Medicare benefits being cut.

Grandparent

Scammers call and impersonate a grandchild or other close relative pretending to be in a crisis, asking for immediate financial assistance. Sometimes these scammers “spoof” the caller ID to make an incoming call appear to be coming from a trusted source.

Often the imposter claims to have been in an accident or arrested. The scammer may ask the grandparent “please don’t let mom and dad know,” and may hand the phone over to someone posing as a lawyer seeking immediate payment.

Funeral Scams

Scammers read obituaries and call or attend the funeral service of a complete stranger to take advantage of the grieving partner by claiming the deceased had an outstanding debt with them. Scammers will try to extort money from relatives to settle the fake debts.

Romance Scams

Scammer creates fake social media profiles and lures single lonely elderly people. Scammers may pretend to be overseas and once a friendship has been established, demand money for visa, medical emergencies, etc.

Pension Scams

Scammers offer elderly people better returns for pension savings by transferring or releasing their pension funds.

Illegal RoboCalls

Unwanted spoofed calls claiming to represent legitimate organizations, government agencies, or financial institutions to trick individuals into providing sensitive information or participating in fraudulent schemes. Alternatively, unsolicited automated phone calls that deliver prerecorded messages or use an automated system to connect the call to a live operator, often with the intent of promoting scams, fraudulent activities, or other deceptive schemes.

Lottery Scams

Scammers call and pretend that the elderly person has won a lottery prize. Later they demand money, cash or gift cards to claim their winnings to supposedly cover taxes and processing fees.