WebBasedScams are WebBrowser based ComputerAssistedScams. These can be more dangerous than illicit schemes conducted over the phone or postal mail.

This is because:
* Until recently, high quality websites were expensive to produce. So good websites '''were''' largely created and maintained by legitimate businesses
* Consumers value convenience and are more willing to take risks.
* Overconfidence on the part of consumers, and gross undervaluation of the talents of the dark side.
* Consumers felt they are adequately covered by safety nets in the event of a mishap.

There have been reports in the trade press that told of senior IT executives getting their identities stolen from online activities.

A Jul04 Computerworld article said this of the users
* ''... online bank users are a resilient bunch...users dug their heels in and kept on conducting transactions online...''

Some fake websites are highly sophisticated. They contain mostly legitimate links that promote confidence in the users enticed to visit the sites.

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'''Stories to share, backed up by ?good weblinks'''

Web scam: How one ISP took the money and ran
by Daniel Tynan 
April 28, 1999
http://www.cnn.com/TECH/computing/9904/28/scam.idg/

"Every scam that's performed through the mail or by telemarketers can be done faster and more efficiently on the Net."
-- Steve Baker, director of the Federal Trade Commission's Chicago bureau.
http://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/stories/1996/11/04/story4.html

Google gives me 15,800 hits for the phrase "web scam".

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''more dangerous''? How? Someone can steal a person's identity and then all their money from a phone scam. How could that person possibly be hurt any worse by a web based scam?

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CategorySecurity