November 2026
A Basic History of Scams
A Basic History of Modern Scams From AOL to Global Scam Centers How Online Fraud Became a Global Industry In the early 1990s, online fraud reached people through email and chat rooms on services such as America Online. As more people used the internet, criminals followed them to dating websites, social media, and messaging apps. Each new service gave scammers another way to approach people and gain their trust. Today, organized criminal groups can run thousands of conversations at once, using fake profiles, prepared scripts, and websites built to collect money. Some use artificial intelligence to imitate voices and faces. [...]
