What are Email Scams?

Email scams are illegal schemes that are operated and run through the Internet. The scammers send legitimate-seeming email messages to random email addresses. The content of the email varies but the object is the same: to separate gullible people from their money.

Email Scam Messages

Some email messages tell the recipient that they have won a very large prize in an international raffle. The scammer may use the name and logo of an internationally recognizable institution. There would usually be a deadline for claiming prizes, a contact number and, later on, demands of money for opening an account, paying taxes, bank service charges, etc.

There are also email scams that ask the recipient for help in transferring a large amount of money into a bank account in exchange for a very generous commission. The sender masquerades as a wealthy philanthropist, a bank manager, etc. who merely wishes to honor the deceased owner's wish (or his wish, if the sender is supposedly the owner) that money be transferred to an overseas bank account so that a son can be sent to hospital or so that the authorities won't be able to get their hands on it.

Why Email Scams Work

Recent studies by motivational psychologists indicate that the real problem in spam scam lies with people who are, in a way, “vulnerable” to scams. These people are ignorant about the Internet, computers and acceptable business practices.

Beyond the matter of inexperience in how the Internet works or how legitimate companies operate, email scammers also make use of various “motivational triggers” to push people into buying their products, or giving up confidential, personal information (including credit card numbers and passwords) to scammers.

Among these motivational triggers are:

The promise of positive outcomes or pleasure if the spam recipient 'buys in' to the offer. Examples of such scams are get-rich-quick schemes, “hot” stock tips (with the scammer offering to act as broker), no-effort weight loss plans and 'sexual performance boosters;'
The promise of dire consequences if the recipient does not act quickly. For example, emails supposedly coming from the recipient's bank or credit card company with a heading like “Your credit card may be compromised” would be enough for most people to open the message.
Combining both fear and pleasure is a third 'trigger' – offering 'cheap' medicines (which play on one's fears of becoming ill while offering a means to save money) is one such scam which has taken in a lot of people.

Aside from the above motivational triggers, scammers also use sophisticated methods to deceive people. Many scammers make an effort to project themselves either as legitimate businesses that the intended victims deal with (e.g., credit card companies, banks and so on) or as friends, business acquaintances or 'long-lost' relatives. This, combined with authoritative language is often enough to get people to open the email without thinking and thus unknowingly letting scammers gain access to their computers or giving up confidential information which can be used to 'validate' their identities.