By Scambusters Audri, Jim and Keith
The 2009 outturn was more or less as we expected, except for a
surprisingly strong surge in message- and website-borne
malware, which is likely to continue into 2010.
Also for the New Year, we anticipate more doorstep scams
(which we wrote about last week) because it’s a Census year.
10 Top Scams of 2009 and 2010
With a likely global toll of more than $1 billion lost to
Internet and phone scammers in 2009, it’s time to review our
Top 10 scam predictions for the past year and throw forward
our thinking on what’s going to change in 2010.
Our predictions, (unscientifically) confirmed by the feedback
we get from the hundreds of thousands of Scambusters
subscribers and visitors, official surveys and the regular
news reports we scan, once again came pretty close to the
mark.
Identity theft and phishing remained the biggest source of
scams in 2009, with, as we predicted, a stronger-than-ever
showing from economy-related scams, which came in at Number 2.
Looking to the future, we expect many of the old patterns to
repeat themselves, though often using new approaches to try to
catch us out.
But there’s also a growing threat that we’ve seen more and
more evidence in 2009 — from the “planting” of viruses and
spyware — and there’s one newcomer to our list of Top 10
scams for 2010.
Let’s take a closer look…
Here Are The Results for 2009:
10. Vacation and travel scams (Predicted as #10).
9. Auction and classified ad sites (Predicted as #9).
8. Work from home scams (Predicted as #7 but slipped slightly
as awareness increased and the economy improved somewhat).
7. Investment scams (Predicted as #8, this category includes
Ponzi schemes. The downfall of Bernie Madoff turned out to be
just the biggest of a whole clutch of investment frauds that
came to light because of the depressed stock market. And
even as the market started to recover, other scammers jumped
on the bandwagon with phony get-rich-quick investment
schemes.).
6. Grandparent scams (Predicted as #6).
5. Lotteries (Predicted as #3 — although there were some
high-profile cases in which victims lost large sums of money,
greater awareness is helping to keep the lid on lottery scams.).
4. Nigerian scams (Predicted as #4).
3. Malware (viruses, Trojans and malware) (Predicted as #5,
this category has climbed rapidly through the spread of
botnets, the rocketing use of social media and their spread
onto cell phones.).
2. Economy related scams (Predicted as #2).
Despite the slowly improving economy, foreclosure scams, phony
credit repair schemes, bogus grant programs and other
refinancing cons kept economy-related scams firmly lodged near
the head of our list of Top 10 scams for 2009.
1. Phishing and identity theft (Predicted as #1).
Despite the valiant attempts by Internet security firms to
reduce the risks of website spoofing by building anti-phishing
checks into their applications, the crime continues to rise.
During 2009, we saw a massive increase in the use of
“smishing” — the use of SMS messaging to send out phony texts
to cell phone users claiming problems with their bank accounts
and then asking them to key in PINs and other personal
information, which they then used to clear out their victims’
bank accounts.
According to experts, roughly one in every 400 emails
criss-crossing the globe is also a phishing attempt, usually
masquerading as an official communication from the IRS, banks
and other financial institutions, and well known stores.
Changes for 2010
We think economy-related scams will slip down a notch in 2010,
not so much because of a decline in their incidence as because
of a further massive growth in Internet- and cell phone-borne
malware.
The techniques of luring people into clicking links or
visiting sites that upload viruses, Trojans and spyware onto
computers and cell phones is proving immensely popular among
scammers because of the many different uses this malware can
be put to.
Victim machines may be recruited into huge botnets (networks
of “zombie” machines used to send out spaham [mispelled
intentionally], or they may install scareware or key-logging
and other “sniffer” programs that steal information for
identity theft.
We also predict the incidence of grandparent scams, in which a
phone caller claims to be a grandchild needing urgent
financial help, will drop out of our Top 10 Scams list for 2010.
But that’s not to say it will disappear, merely that it will
be replaced by a newcomer we call doorstep scams, which we
expect to show a sharp increase because of bogus 2010 Census
canvassers.
Predictions for the Top 10 Scams of 2010
10. Investment scams. This is always a difficult one to
predict, because a single biggie like the Madoff scheme can
exert such a huge influence on the outcome. But we think the
massive exposure of fraudulent schemes in 2009 will make
investors a bit more wary this time around.
9. Travel and vacations. A somewhat better economy and perhaps
lower airfares will see more people traveling abroad. New
holiday destinations, especially in Third World countries,
will bring out the scammers. Also watch for a huge blip in
ticket scams, similar to that seen in the run-up to the
Beijing Olympics, as the 2010 Winter Olympics and the Soccer
World Cup get underway in Vancouver and South Africa
respectively.
8. Auctions and classified ad scams move up one place in our
Top 10 scams list. Ebayers are more wary, but more and more
online auction sites are appearing. Meanwhile, as personal
advertisers move away from newspapers to online, the hugely
popular Craigslist continues to attract the scammers — and
their victims.
7. Work from home schemes. The growth in marketing of dubious
health products, often in the shape of pyramid schemes, along
with the traditional types of home-working scams, plus the
focus of economic recovery being on small businesses, will
keep this firmly in our Top 10 scams list.
6. Doorstep scams. As mentioned above and in last week’s
issue, this is the newcomer in our Top 10 scams of 2010 chart.
Principally, this will be because of the 2010 Census, which we
already highlighted in this article.
We also expect bogus contractors to take advantage of
improving home sales with their phony repair schemes.
5. Lottery scams. The most significant trend in this crime is
the increased targeting of seniors who have proved more
gullible to “announcements” that they’ve won a fortune but
have to pay to collect on it. This will keep lottery scams in
the mid range of our 10 Top Scams list.
4. Nigerian scams. Despite the late 2009 clampdown in which
the Nigerian government shut down more than 800 crooked
websites, the scale and breadth of this crime keeps it high in
our charts. Most common are advance fee scams and a whole
range of phony purchase or sale tricks.
3. Economy related scams. Economic recovery so far has been
slow and patchy. Many people still face foreclosure and other
financial woes. Millions are still without jobs. And the
crooks have no qualms about fleecing even the most
poverty-stricken. There’ll be no let-up.
2. Malware. There are literally tens of thousands of spyware,
virus and Trojan programs out there and, it seems, millions of
people ready to be fooled into having them installed on their
PCs and cell phones. Some even pay for the service, convinced
they’re installing security programs. This is a crime that
feeds on itself, as newly-infected machines continue to
recruit others.
1. Phishing and identify theft. The continued success of this
crime partly depends on some of the other crimes highlighted
in our list of Top 10 Scams for 2010 — notably malware. There
seems to be no end to the inventive cunning of scammers in
finding ways to get at our critical information.
Summary
So these are our predictions for the Top 10 Scams of 2010.
But remember, this is only the Top 10. There are hundreds more
types of scams out there and many of them that don’t feature
in this list will still pull in hundreds of thousands of
victims and millions of dollars.
As ever, we urge our readers always to be wary and skeptical
in any dealings that involve their money and financial
information. Don’t accept people or information at face value
– always double and triple check claims and credentials.
And please keep spreading the word about Scambusters! Sadly,
there will always be a list of Top 10 Scams but we can all
play a part in reducing its size and its impact.
That’s it for today and this year. Wishing you a safe and
very happy 2010!
Resources
Tags: scams, 2009, 2010, internet
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