There are many different types of fraud strategies. Some include sophisticated software designed to obtain your personal information and others focus on psychological manipulation, designed to gain information directly from the user. All have the same goal to obtain your personal financial information for fraudulent use.
Adware:
Software that automatically downloads or displays advertising material while using the Internet. Occasionally adware runs without the user’s consent. Software monitors your browsing data and relays that information to other internet users or companies.
Bot or Web bot:
Programs that simulate human actions online, bots can be used to take control of computers, and therefore put data at risk.
Botnet or Zombie Armies:
A group of computers that have been taken over and used for attacks on other computers.
Denial-of-Service (DoS):
A type of attack on a computer or network in which the resources and bandwidth are overloaded so the network becomes unavailable.
Dumpster Diving:
When personal information, such as mail, is found in the trash.
Keylogger:
Software that collects keystrokes on a computer keyboard. This can be integrated into malware to obtain passwords, usernames, and other personal information.
Malware:
A nickname for ‘malicious software,’ it can attack or take unauthorized control over a computer. Types of malware include viruses, worms, certain keyloggers, spyware, adware, Trojan horses, and bots, or a combination of various types.
Pharming:
When you go to a legitimate web address and are illegally redirected to a website that is not legitimate. Often phony sites ask for personal information such as credit card numbers, bank account information, etc.
Phishing:
This type of scam uses a replica of a web page that already exists in order to try to get users to enter personal information such as password data.
Pop-Ups:
This type of advertising emerges as a “pop-up” on a computer screen. Sometimes the pop-ups are designed to ask for personal information from an organization that they are not actually representing, like a bank for example.
RetroVirus:
A program actively seeking out an antivirus program on a computer system and attacking in order to disable it.
Social engineering:
Most commonly used over the phone, this is a tactic where fraudsters lie to gain the trust of users and then get them to divulge private information.
Spam:
Unsolicited email that often contains advertisements. This tactic is used in phishing scams and other types of cybercrime.
Spim or Instant Spam:
Unsolicited instant messages used in phishing scams or to spread malware.
Spoofing:
When a fraudster pretends to be someone else. Spoofing attacks include phishing or URL spoofing where they display incorrect URLs in your browser location bar.
Spyware:
A type of program that takes data from a user’s computer and sends the intelligence to another party. Typically it gets installed when a user downloads free software from the internet.
Trojans:
The name of this type of tactic derives from the myth of the Trojan horse because it is a type of code that is concealed within another code. Once the code is enabled, attackers are able to gain unauthorized access to the computer.
Virus:
A program that infects other software or files and negatively impacts computer operations. A virus usually only infects a computer when the operator opens the compromised file. Viruses are spread through sharing infected documents, typically through email.
Vishing:
An attack over the telephone where a scammer will typically obtain a local phone number and call to request your personal information. Occasionally they will email you first to instruct you to call them in order to make the communication seem more legitimate. Once they have you on the phone, they will request personal information.
Worm:
A worm is just like a virus except it is able to infect a computer without being attached to other programs and it does not require being sent along by another person. They are able to spread quickly across a network without any assistance.