How does a scam website work?

Scam websites work in a wide variety of ways, from publishing misleading information to promising wild rewards in a financial exchange. The end goal is almost always the same: to get you to relinquish your personal or financial information.

A website of this nature may be a standalone website, popups, or unauthorized overlays on legitimate websites via clickjacking. Regardless of presentation, these sites work methodically to attract and misguide users.

Attackers using scam websites will typically use these steps to deceive users:

Bait: Attackers draw internet users to the website through various distribution channels.

Compromise: Users take an action that will expose their information or devices to the attacker.

Execute: Attackers exploit the users to misuse their private information for personal gain or to infect their devices with malicious software for various purposes.

While a given scheme may be more complex, most can be distilled to these three basic stages.

A scam website may lure internet users through many communication channels, such as social media, email, and text messaging. Search results are sometimes manipulated through search engine optimization (SEO) methods, leading to malicious sites appearing in top positions.

By appearing as an attractive offer or a frightening alert message, users are more receptive to these schemes. Most scam websites are driven by psychological exploits to make them work.

Understanding exactly how these scams trick you is an essential part of protecting yourself. Let's unpack exactly how they accomplish this exploitation.