What is Internet Scam ?

Internet frauds and scams, in many cases, are not really novel and ingenuous ways of defrauding people. Mostly it is the same kinds of fraudulent schemes that have defrauded consumers and investors for many years before the inception of Internet.

These age old schemes, after adapting its colour and look necessary for this new medium, are now appearing online.

Playing on greed to defraud people remains the most potent weapon of fraudsters - online or off-line.

The term 'Internet Fraud' generally refers to any type of fraudulent scheme or scam that uses one or more components of the Internet, e.g. e-mail, chat, bulletin board, websites, auction etc.

Internet Frauds are more dangerous than ordinary crimes as they can affect far more people in far less time than was possible with many fraud schemes in the past.

With the explosive growth of Internet and e-commerce in particular, online criminals try to present their fraudulent schemes in ways that look like any legitimate offer for goods and services that vast majority of genuine e-commerce merchants offer. In the process, they not only loot consumers and investors but also undermine consumer confidence in legitimate e-commerce and the Internet.