SCARS Institute Encyclopedia of Scams™

Email Scam — An email scam is a fraudulent communication sent to deceive a recipient into revealing information, transferring money, opening a harmful attachment, visiting a fraudulent website, or performing an action that benefits a criminal. The message commonly impersonates a financial institution, government agency, employer, executive, delivery service, technology company, charity, vendor, or familiar contact while using copied logos, forged sender information, false invoices, account warnings, fabricated emergencies, or promises of refunds and rewards. Criminals create urgency and direct the recipient toward links, attachments, telephone numbers, payment instructions, or changed banking details that remain under criminal control, and sophisticated messages frequently contain accurate personal or organizational information obtained through research, data breaches, or compromised accounts. A recipient protects against the scheme by refusing to use the contact information within the message and independently contacting the claimed sender through a trusted website, known telephone number, or established business channel before responding or taking action. — Cybercrime and Communication Fraud

Added September 29, 2026

Money Mule — A money mule is a person who receives, transfers, converts, withdraws, transports, or forwards money or property on behalf of another person when the activity moves, conceals, or launders proceeds from crime. Criminals recruit money mules through romance scams, fraudulent jobs, investment schemes, business opportunities, emergency stories, online friendships, and requests to help someone who supposedly cannot access a financial account. Some participants knowingly assist criminal operations, while others believe they are helping a romantic partner, performing legitimate employment, processing customer payments, forwarding packages, or protecting money from theft, yet the participant’s bank account, cryptocurrency wallet, address, or identity becomes part of the criminal transaction chain. Money-mule activity exposes the person to financial losses, frozen accounts, repayment demands, identity theft, banking restrictions, and possible criminal investigation, which makes any request to receive and forward unexplained money or property a serious warning requiring immediate independent verification. — Financial Crime Facilitation

Added September 29, 2026

Parasocial — Parasocial describes a one-sided psychological connection in which a person feels familiarity, affection, loyalty, or intimacy toward someone who does not know them personally or share a reciprocal relationship with them. Such as when a romance scam victim retains their one sided relationship with an impersonated person. These connections develop around celebrities, performers, influencers, media personalities, and fictional characters through repeated exposure to their appearance, voice, stories, or content. The feelings are real for the person experiencing them, even though the perceived closeness does not reflect mutual personal knowledge or commitment. In celebrity impersonation scams, criminals exploit an existing parasocial attachment to make fraudulent claims of personal attention, friendship, or romance more emotionally convincing. Social Psychology

Added September 30, 2026

Perfidious — Describes a person, action, or pattern of behavior characterized by calculated betrayal, deliberate deception, and the intentional violation of trust. Perfidious conduct occurs when someone presents an outward appearance of honesty, loyalty, affection, or good faith while secretly intending to deceive, exploit, or harm another person. The betrayal is especially damaging because the person first creates a sense of safety and dependability, then uses that trust as a weapon against the individual who granted it. In relationship scams, a criminal’s conduct is perfidious because the criminal fabricates intimacy, makes false promises, and encourages emotional dependence while knowingly pursuing exploitation. The term carries a stronger meaning than simple dishonesty because it emphasizes treachery committed within a relationship or agreement in which trust has been deliberately established and then violated. — Manipulation and Deception

Added September 26, 2026

Phone Scam — A phone scam is a fraud conducted through a live call, robocall, voicemail, or voice message in which a criminal impersonates a trusted person or organization to obtain money, information, account access, or control over a device. The caller may claim to represent a bank, government agency, police department, court, utility company, technology provider, employer, charity, hospital, delivery service, or distressed family member, and caller ID spoofing allows the displayed name and number to appear genuine. The criminal creates fear, urgency, secrecy, authority, or excitement while demanding payment, credentials, security codes, remote access, or immediate action, and artificial intelligence now allows criminals to imitate familiar voices with convincing emotional detail. A person confronted by such a call protects against manipulation by ending the conversation and contacting the claimed individual or organization through independently obtained information, because no legitimate caller needs to prevent verification, demand secrecy, or require unusual payment methods. — Impersonation and Communication Fraud

Added September 29, 2026

Pig Butchering Scam/Crypto Investment Scam — A pig butchering scam, also called a relationship investment scam or crypto investment scam, is a prolonged confidence scheme in which criminals cultivate friendship, romance, admiration, or professional trust before introducing a fraudulent investment opportunity. The criminal presents apparent wealth and investment expertise, directs the targeted person to a controlled trading platform, displays fabricated profits, permits a small early withdrawal to strengthen confidence, and then encourages increasingly large deposits funded through savings, loans, retirement accounts, property sales, or borrowed money. When the person attempts to withdraw the displayed balance, the platform demands invented taxes, security deposits, liquidity payments, commissions, or verification fees, although the supposed profits exist only inside an interface controlled by the criminal organization. The term “pig butchering” comes from offender language and does not describe the victim, whose trust is deliberately developed through sustained psychological grooming, manipulated evidence, professional technology, false customer service, and a coordinated criminal infrastructure. — Relationship Investment Fraud

Added September 29, 2026

Romance Scam — A romance scam is a relationship-based confidence crime in which an offender creates a false or stolen identity, develops emotional attachment, and exploits the resulting trust for money, property, information, account access, criminal assistance, or another benefit. The offender commonly uses frequent communication, rapid declarations of love, emotional mirroring, future promises, fabricated vulnerability, and carefully timed crises while avoiding ordinary independent verification and repeatedly preventing an in-person meeting. Financial requests frequently involve medical emergencies, travel expenses, business problems, customs charges, legal difficulties, military restrictions, family needs, investments, gift cards, cryptocurrency, wire transfers, or requests to receive and forward money, and the emotional relationship makes each request appear connected to a shared future rather than a criminal scheme. The victim’s attachment remains psychologically real even though the identity and circumstances were manufactured, because the crime targets normal human capacities for trust, empathy, hope, loyalty, and love rather than any defect in intelligence or character. — Relationship Fraud

Added September 29, 2026

SMS, Message, and Direct Message Scam — An SMS, message, or direct message scam is a fraudulent communication sent through text messaging, social media, dating platforms, or private messaging applications to obtain money, information, account access, or control over a device. The criminal may impersonate a bank, government agency, delivery service, employer, family member, friend, celebrity, or customer-service representative while using urgency, fear, affection, curiosity, or an apparent wrong-number message to begin the interaction. These scams frequently direct the recipient to click a deceptive link, scan a QR code, provide a security code, download an application, send money, purchase cryptocurrency, complete paid online tasks, or move the conversation to an encrypted platform. A recipient protects against the scheme by refusing the requested action, preserving the communication, and independently contacting the claimed person or organization through an established channel, because a familiar profile, photograph, telephone number, or existing account does not prove the sender’s identity. — Digital Communication Fraud

Added September 29, 2026