Internet Scammers and Cybercriminals: Understanding the Difference and Staying Safe

A message asks you to confirm your banking details. A familiar supplier suddenly changes its payment instructions. A computer displays a demand for money instead of opening your files. These situations may look different, but they illustrate a connected problem: criminals can exploit both human trust and digital technology. Understanding that connection is the first step towards protecting your money, information and devices.

The key distinction is straightforward: an internet scammer uses online deception to obtain something of value, while a cybercriminal falls into a broader category that also includes people who unlawfully attack computers, networks, accounts or data. Internet scammers are therefore cybercriminals, but not all cybercriminals are internet scammers. The terms describe overlapping activities rather than two completely separate groups.

What Makes Someone an Internet Scammer?

An internet scammer relies on false claims, impersonation or misleading offers to persuade someone to hand over money or sensitive information.

Phishing, for example, uses deceptive communications to encourage people to disclose private details. Other common examples include advertising goods that will never be delivered, inventing investment opportunities or requesting advance payments for benefits that do not exist.

The distinguishing feature is the attempt to make a victim act on a lie.

Why Cybercrime Is the Broader Term

INTERPOL distinguishes between cyber-enabled crime and cyber-dependent crime. Cyber-enabled offences use digital tools to facilitate crimes such as fraud that can also occur offline. Cyber-dependent offences directly target digital devices or infrastructure, including through malware attacks and data breaches.

This distinction explains why a fraudulent online payment request and an attack that locks computer files can both constitute cybercrime, despite operating differently.

Technical expertise is not a reliable dividing line. Some offenders develop sophisticated tools, while others obtain ready-made criminal software or services. A scammer may possess advanced technical skills, and someone carrying out a technical attack may rely on tools created by others.

Nor should the word "hacker" automatically be treated as a synonym for criminal. Authorised security testing is fundamentally different from unlawful access.

The Main Differences and Shared Risks

• Method: Scamming depends on deception. Cybercrime can involve deception, but it can also involve technical intrusion, malicious software or disruption without a fraudulent offer.

• Target: A scam often focuses on a person's trust and decisions. Other cyberattacks may directly target software, devices, networks or stored information.

• Victim involvement: A scam commonly requires someone to pay, disclose information or perform an action. Some technical attacks can spread without further user involvement.

• Potential harm: Both can cause financial loss and compromise information. Technical attacks can additionally make systems unavailable and interrupt essential work.

These differences are not rigid boundaries. Both kinds of activity can seek financial gain, operate across borders and combine human manipulation with technical methods.

A criminal may steal a password through a deceptive message and then use it to access an account unlawfully. The scam and the intrusion become parts of the same incident.

Real-World Case One: A Supplier Scam Worth More Than US$120 Million

Between approximately 2013 and 2015, Evaldas Rimasauskas participated in a business email compromise scheme that induced two US-based internet companies to transfer more than US$120 million to accounts he controlled.

A company he registered used the same name as a legitimate computer hardware manufacturer. Fraudulent emails appeared to come from that supplier and redirected payments for genuine goods and services. After pleading guilty to wire fraud, Rimasauskas was sentenced to five years in prison on December 19, 2019.

The FBI's account also describes phishing that gave the fraudsters access to company email systems, helping them gather information for the operation.

The case illustrates both online scamming and broader cybercrime. Deception persuaded the companies to pay, while compromised email access supported the scheme.

Its practical lesson is simple: a convincing payment request is not proof that the payment destination is legitimate.

Real-World Case Two: The WannaCry Ransomware Attack

Beginning on May 12, 2017, the WannaCry ransomware attack spread internationally, encrypting files and demanding payment to restore access. Europol described its combination of ransomware with a worm capable of spreading within networks without user interaction. It exploited a known vulnerability in systems that had not received the relevant security updates.

Unlike the supplier-payment scheme, the defining mechanism was not a false invoice or business offer. It was malicious interference with computer systems followed by a ransom demand.

This is why ransomware operators are cybercriminals without necessarily being internet scammers. Comparing the cases highlights two different defensive needs: independently verifying financial requests and effectively protecting digital systems.

How to Reduce Your Risk

No single habit or security product can prevent every scam or attack. A stronger approach combines careful decisions with technical safeguards.

Verify Before You Pay or Share Information

Independently confirm unusual payment requests and changes to supplier bank details using an established contact channel. If an email provides a new account number, call the supplier using a number you already trust rather than one supplied in the message.

Treat urgent demands as a reason to pause, not a reason to skip verification. A familiar name or professional-looking message is not enough.

Be cautious about unexpected calls, messages, links and attachments that request sensitive information. Do not disclose passwords, banking PINs or one-time verification codes to someone who contacts you.

To investigate an account warning, open the official app yourself or visit a trusted website. Research unfamiliar offers before paying, and discuss doubtful requests with someone you trust.

Strengthen Your Accounts and Devices

• Use long, unique passwords. A reputable password manager can help generate and store different passwords for each account, limiting the damage if one is exposed.

• Enable multifactor authentication. MFA adds another verification step beyond a password. Prioritise email, financial services and other important accounts. It reduces risk but does not guarantee protection against every attack.

• Install updates promptly. Enable automatic updates where appropriate for your devices and applications. Updates repair weaknesses criminals may exploit.

• Handle files carefully. Verify unexpected attachments through a separate channel, even when the sender appears familiar. Obtain applications from official or otherwise trusted sources.

Prepare for Recovery with Separate Backups

Keep important backups offline or otherwise protected from alteration, and test that files can be restored.

For an individual, this might include an external drive disconnected after each backup, alongside a securely configured backup service.

Backups can support recovery from ransomware, but they do not prevent attackers from stealing information. Recovery planning must therefore accompany, rather than replace, prevention.

What to Do If You Have Already Been Targeted

Being targeted is not a reason for embarrassment. Prompt action matters more than blame. Stop further payments or disclosures and take the steps appropriate to what happened.

1. Contact your bank or payment provider immediately if money was sent. Use its official channel and ask whether the payment can be stopped, recalled, reversed or disputed. Recovery is not guaranteed.

2. Secure exposed accounts. Change compromised passwords from a trusted device and replace them anywhere they were reused. Enable MFA where available.

3. Isolate a device suspected of ransomware. Disconnect it from Wi-Fi and wired networks, and seek qualified technical help. For work equipment, notify the organisation's IT or security team immediately and follow its response procedures.

4. Preserve evidence. Keep messages, receipts, transaction references and screenshots for your bank or investigators. Do not publicly share passwords, verification codes or sensitive documents.

5. Report the incident. In Nigeria, the Nigeria Computer Emergency Response Team (ngCERT) accepts incident reports from individuals. Financial theft should also be reported promptly to the relevant bank and law-enforcement authority.

Protect Both Trust and Technology

Internet scams and other cybercrimes are connected threats, not competing labels. A scammer may persuade someone to send money; another offender may attack a system directly; a single operation may do both.

Understanding the difference leads to a more complete defence. Verify requests before trusting them, protect your credentials, keep software updated, maintain recoverable backups and act quickly when something goes wrong.

Online safety depends on protecting both the decisions people make and the technology they use.