have been with the internet even before it?

[TRish]

By posing as a company the victim wants to do business with, they get people to reveal their financial information (such as bank account numbers, credit card numbers, or even social security numbers). They then use that information to conduct fraudulent transactions, charging money or goods to the victim. Often, they are operating from overseas in countries that are less than cooperative with international investigations, which makes it easy for them to take the money and run.