Scam

A dishonest scheme that deceives people into surrendering money, property, or sensitive information. Scams exploit trust, urgency, or confusion for the perpetrator’s gain.

Social engineering: The use of psychological manipulation to make people reveal information or take actions that benefit an attacker. Scams use social engineering to influence decisions without relying solely on technical intrusion.
Ponzi scheme: An investment fraud that pays earlier investors with money from later investors rather than legitimate profits. It disguises the absence of real returns with a fabricated investment story.
Theft: The unlawful taking of another person’s property without consent. Scams obtain property through deception, while theft can occur without persuading the victim to hand it over.
Identity theft: The unauthorized use of another person’s identifying information, commonly to commit fraud or obtain benefits. Stolen personal details from a scam can enable further unauthorized transactions.
Fraud prevention: Measures designed to deter, detect, or reduce deceptive conduct for financial or personal gain. Scam prevention combines safeguards, verification, and public awareness.
Phishing: A deception that impersonates a trusted source to obtain sensitive information or prompt harmful actions, often through electronic messages. Phishing is a common scam format built around impersonation and deceptive messages.
Pyramid scheme: A business model in which participants’ earnings depend mainly on recruiting new participants who pay to join. Its recruitment structure can conceal the lack of a sustainable product or income source.
Robbery: The taking of property through force or threat of force. Robbery relies on coercion; a scam typically relies on misleading its target.
Financial loss: A reduction in money or financial assets resulting from an event or decision. Direct payments and unauthorized transfers are common immediate consequences of scams.
Multi-factor authentication: An account security method requiring two or more distinct forms of verification. It can reduce harm when a scam succeeds in stealing a password.

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DisinformationCompared with: Scams use deliberate deception for direct gain, while disinformation may pursue broader influence.