Online and Computer Scams

The Internet provides endless opportunities for selling products, with sales of everything from t-shirts to toys, calendars to collectibles. If a scam is involved, the item you purchased online may never be delivered or may not be as advertised. Or you may be asked to pay an advance fee and receive nothing. The Internet also provides opportunities for scammers to steal your identity and your money.

This section describes some common Internet scams.

“Free trial” scams

Online advertisements may offer you a trial for products to cure all sort of things, ranging from hair loss to weight loss or from acne to cancer. Be aware that “free trials” may result in repeated billing. Review the website carefully before you provide any credit or debit card information.

You may be signing a membership, subscription or service contract that allows the company to charge fees to credit cards. Many websites that offer a “free trial” for products do not disclose the billing terms and conditions on their website. Check with the Better Business Bureau to find a company reliability report. See the Sources of Help for Consumers section for contact details.

Phishing and smishing

These scams are forms of identity theft. They are tactics to get you to reveal your personal and financial information.

Phishing involves scammers creating email messages and web pages that mimic those of a bank, credit card company, auction site or escrow service such as PayPal. The imitations can sometimes be very good. The scammers send emails randomly to “fish” for passwords and financial data, hence the term “phishing” (pronounced “fishing”). These emails often ask you to “re-register” or “reactivate” an account. They provide a link to a website that appears to be the legitimate site of the company or financial institution.

The goal is to trick you into providing personal, financial, or password data. Once the scammers have your information such as credit card numbers, bank account information, social insurance numbers, and passwords, they use it to commit more fraud.

Smishing refers to text messages that are sent to users of mobile devices. The text asks you to register for a service that downloads a virus. Or the scammer may claim you will be charged unless you cancel a supposed order by going to a website, where you will be asked for your credit card numbers and other personal information.

Anti-virus scam

You receive a call from someone claiming to work for major computer company (e.g., Microsoft). The caller says you have a problem with your computer, for example, it is infecting others with a virus. All you have to do is go online and download anti-virus software, or let the caller “take over” your computer to fix it. The download in fact is spyware and malware that enables the scammer to gain access to your personal information and also to use your computer for other attacks.

Smartphone app scam

Scammers disguise malicious spyware in a game or an application. If you download it, the malware can steal your financial details and other data.

Facebook link-sharing scam

A scammer posing as a friend posts a link on your Facebook page wall or in Facebook status updates, making it look like legitimate link-sharing. If you follow the link it downloads viruses onto your machine.

Bogus Internet services

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There are numerous scams that take your money for Internet services that you did not order, or that you were told were free. In one scam, you get a call from a company offering you a free website for a certain period of time. The caller says you can continue the service for a small monthly fee and cancel at any time. The caller obtains your contact information and a description of your business. Then you receive a bill, whether or not you ordered the service.

Overpayment scams

You advertise something for sale online. A buyer agrees to pay your asking price, but sends you a cheque or banker’s draft for a larger sum. Then they ask for the extra money to be sent back to them by cheque or wired to an account. Their cheque bounces after you have sent them your money.

Free government money

Social networking sites and online advertisement point you to blogs that appear to be written by ordinary people who are willing to share the secret of how they received funds from government to pay off their debts. This is in fact a mass marketing scheme. You have to pay to participate.

West African scams

This scam, which has been around for long time, has gone online. It is sometimes called the "4-1-9 scam," after the section of the Nigerian criminal code that addresses fraud schemes. Typically an email comes from overseas, usually from somewhere in Africa. The email claims that an important event (e.g., a change of government) has resulted in a person having a large sum of money which needs to be transferred overseas. The sender claims that if you help with the transfer, you can keep a portion of the money. If you reply to the email, you receive official-looking correspondence and are requested to provide your financial details, such as bank account information. Then something “goes wrong” and you are pressured to save the deal. The scammer demands advance fees for various taxes, legal fees, transaction fees or bribes. There are many variations of the scam, but all aim to steal your money.

This information applies to British Columbia, Canada. Last reviewed for legal accuracy by People's Law School, 2013.

Consumer Law Wikibook © People's Law School is, except for the images, licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International Licence.

The testing of the claims in a court proceeding at a formal hearing before a judge with the jurisdiction to hear the proceeding. The parties present their evidence and arguments to the judge, who then makes a decision resolving the parties' claims against one another that is final and binding on the parties unless successfully appealed. See "action," "appeal," "argument," "claim," "evidence" and "jurisdiction."

In contract law, the expression, either orally or in writing, of a willingness to be bound by a proposed agreement, contract, or settlement. See "offer to settle."

In law, to formally deliver documents to a person in a manner that complies with the rules of court. Service may be ordinary (mailed or delivered to a litigant's address for service), personal (hand-delivered to a person), or substituted (performed in a way other than the rules normally require). See "address for delivery," "ordinary service," "personal service" and "substituted service."

An agreement between two or more people, giving them obligations towards each other that can be enforced in court. A valid contract must be offered by one person and accepted by the other, and some form of payment or other thing of value must generally be exchanged between the parties to the contract.

An agreement to transfer the ownership of property from one person to another in exchange for the reciprocal transfer of something else, usually money. See "agreement."