Page 8 - Cyberattacks and Cyberscams: Is There an End in Sight?

Chapter One

Cyberscams

Like your favorite brand of ice cream, cyberscams come in
dozens of fl avors. They range from “spray and pray” email
blasts that try to reach many people with a basic message to
elaborately customized ruses with characters and backstory.
“Anyone can become a victim of a cyber fraud or scam, if tar-
geted in the right way at the right time by a highly skilled of-
fender,” say researchers Mark Button and Cassandra Cross.
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Cybertechnology makes traditional scams more effective and
effi cient. It also enables new kinds of fraud. Scams differ in
their content and targets, but they use similar strategies to ac-
complish the same goal: obtain something of value from the
target. It could be cash, assistance in laundering money, or
something to trade for cash—such as personal data, pass-
words, or contacts. Among the most prominent scams are
employment, confi dence, online shopping, and identity fraud.

Employment Fraud

When teen Elisa Chavez wanted to earn money for college,
she searched the online job listings. She investigated every
lead but without success, Chavez told CBS Chicago. After a
month, an opportunity fi nally arrived by text. It asked if she was
interested in interviewing for a remote administrative position.
Chavez checked the names of the recruiters. She saw that they
matched the names of employees at Medline, a local compa-
ny. She agreed to the interview, which lasted about an hour on

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