Criminal syndicates have
been using spam for decades. This is among their widely used methods for luring
unsuspecting users into the fraudulent schemes that they operate on the Web.
They've been at this for the longest because many users don't report scam emails
when they get them.
Several years ago, spam
evolved into phishing scams. Unlike spam where promotional messages for certain
offers are sent out to as many users as quickly as possible, these phishing
scams changed to target more specific groups of users. These started out
scatter-shot - Phishing scams back then were mostly deceptive messages that
trick users into giving away their financial credentials for the promise of
fortunes from Nigerian royalty. Because only a few users chose to report scam emails,
these phishing scams evolved to more sophisticated schemes.
A few years ago, phishing
scams started to have links that pointed to fake websites. The deceptive
messages in these phishing emails also changed. Many alerted users to
immediately log into their online banking platforms, social networks or Web
mails to change their profile details and avoid their accounts from being
blocked permanently.
After users click the links
in these scam emails, they're taken to fake websites that look exactly like the
official platforms of their legitimate service providers. When they enter their
credentials, these are then logged and stolen by scammers. Again, a significant
reason why these phishing scams continued to adapt to the changing times is
because many users still didn't want to report scam emails.
Today, these phishing scams
suddenly morphed into tools for the latest extortion schemes on the Web. The
FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation) continues to send out alerts and
reminders to American users about online dating fraud and ransomware scams.
ActionFraud also continues to send announcements and alerts about these online
extortion schemes to users in the UK.
A lot of users still choose not
to report scam emails. Many security analysts claim that this is a major
contributor to the almost 30% growth of monthly online scam incidents from 2015
to the first half of this year. So, here's a round-up of the effects that are
caused by many users still not choosing to report scam emails and other
fraudulent schemes online:
What Happens When You Don't Report Scam Emails:
1. Criminal
syndicates manage to victimize more users. Who knows - one of their victims in
the future could be any of your family and friends!
2. Scammers are given a chance to create new
schemes that can circumvent the latest online security protocols. Who knows -
Pretty soon, legitimate security groups could be the ones trying to catch up
with these criminals if many users still won't report scam emails and online
fraud!
3. More
sophisticated scams are perpetrated by criminal syndicates to lure more
unsuspecting users. Who knows - Users might need to learn advanced technical
stuff just to avoid being victimized by these scams in the near future!
4. Losses
and damages grow in amount and gravity as more users fall for advanced
fraudulent schemes on the Web. Who knows - These criminals could resort to
kidnappings and hostage-taking operations soon to get more money from our
families and governments! Some of these scammers have already ruined the lives
of innocent users by using their identities to purchase prohibited products and
services from the Deep Web like illegal porn, firearms and drugs.
These are things that almost
all of us wouldn't want to continue and possibly worsen to unmanageable
proportions. Share this with your family and friends so they can take part in
the global fight against cyber fraud. This might convince them to report scam
emails and Web crimes as they encounter them in their day to day activities on
the Internet.
