Computer-Generated Scams

Computer-generated schemes and scams usually begin with a potential victim receiving unsolicited contact by telephone or e-mail. There are significant transnational concerns over such scams, given the proliferation of global digital communication and a popular interest in preserving the economic, social, and political prospects of services, sales, and social networking online. Cyberspace facilitates easy contact with persons in most corners of the world. This, plus the posting of personal details once deemed private in online databanks available worldwide, means that scammers in one country can victimize a citizen in another country rapidly, in a faceless manner, using information that is publicly available or naïvely rendered.

Beyond public access information on the Internet, data might be obtained by creating a fake Website that solicits the information (for ...