A continuing problem with the Internet in the anonymous nature of users leads to it being a popular place for scammers. They can send emails that convince you to give personal information and police will not have a way to trace where the email went.
One of the best ways to avoid online scams is to be cynical. If something seems too good to be true it probably is too good to be true.
The most popular of these is the Nigerian prince that needs to wire millions into your account. You give the scammer your bank account information to wire the money and they clean out your bank account.
Another good rule of thumb is to not click links in emails sent to you or on unknown websites. It is always safer to type in the address of the site you are trying to go to. It is possible to construct a bogus web address using letters from other languages that are indistinguishable from the English letters.
The scam artists are constantly innovating. Bogus credit card charges is an old scam and recently the credit card companies have improved their ability recognize bogus charges.
The credit card companies call the person’s phone to verify the charges, so the scammers have started transferring the victim’s phone number to a throw away cell phone, so they can verify the charges when the credit card company calls.
To stay safe on the anonymous Internet you have to act like you do in the city. You have to give people as little information about yourself as you can online. You have to maintain your vigilance at all times.