Let’s cut right to the chase — according to security firm Panda Security, the infamous Nigerian scam ranks as the decade’s most popular online ploy to swindle victims.
“This was the first type of scam to appear on the Internet and continues to be widely used by cybercriminals today,” Panda Security says.
Coming in second are lottery-based scams, in which potential victims receive an email claiming that they won the lottery. The ones that fall for it end up sending out something like $1,000 to supposedly cover bank related fees and other expenses in order to transfer the winnings, only the victim never sees a dime.
“As with all the classic scams that predate the Internet, many of the numerous users that fall for these tricks and lose their money are reticent to report the crime,” says Luis Corrons, technical director of Panda Labs. “If recovering the stolen money was difficult in the old days, it is even harder now because criminals’ tracks are often lost across the Web. The best defense is to learn how to identify these scams an avoid taking the bait.”
You can view the entire list here.
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Panda Security Compiles List of Decades Most Popular Web Scams
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