Facebook’s new like feature has already been taken advantage of by scammers who are using it to pump out like spam. Users who click like on their fake groups or sites such as “I am sad, please LIKE me to cheer me up” found themselves sent to portals with names like FBlike, Img-Mee, and LikePortal. more »

I doubt there is anyone with an email address who hasn’t gotten an email like this at least once: “Well, I am Barrister kelvin Jones, a Solicitor. I am the Personal Attorney to Mr.Steve , who used to work with SIAMRAK Company Limited in Bangkok Thailand. On the 21st of April 2004, his wife and their three children were involved in a car accident along Sukhumvit Express Road. . . .Upon receipt of the fund, I will come over to your country to meet with you for the disbursement of the fund and then you and I will share the money in this order: 70% will be for me, 30% will be for you.” Yep and if you fall for this there is a lovely bridge in Brooklyn and some oceanfront property in Arizona with your name on it. Welcome to the world of 419 scammers.

The “419 scam,” also known as the “Nigerian scam,” has been around since the 80’s and is one of the most sent types of spam in existence. The scam gets its name from the section of the Nigerian Criminal Code that deals with fraud. The emails, most of which claim to come from people in one of the African nations (some also claim to be from people located in South America, Central America, or Europe), contain a variation of the same basic story involving a bank account containing millions of dollars.

Microsoft has joined Washington state in a lawsuit against scammers who use “scareware” to sell useless and often malicious software. The vendors, who will not be identified until Monday, are being charged under the state’s Computer Spyware Act. So called “scareware” is the name given to those programs that advertise via ads made to look like warnings from Windows XP or Vista. They usually “warn” the viewer that they may have an urgent sounding (yet fake) computer issue and that their software is needed to fix it. Instead, the consumer either wastes money on a useless program or ends up with spyware or malware on their system.

Spam, phishing, identity theft, and online job scams are just some of the fastest growing types of crime today. Cybercrime is a growing business, netting millions for spammers, hackers, and malware authors, and a new study by the Center for American Progress says the US isn’t doing a thing about it. CAP, a think tank, surveyed all 50 states and discovered that 24 of them had online fraud among their top consumer complaints.

Malware, spyware, and phishing cost US consumers over $7 billion dollars last year. Yes, you read that right, $7 billion! Much of that comes from lost productivity, identity theft, and fraud such as the 419 or Nigeria scams. Despite this, the study didn’t find many prosecutions of online criminals.