Consumers can shop for just about anything they need, and have it delivered to their home, but criminals seeking to bilk of their savings also have such ease. Mass mailing programs allow them to send thousands of emails at once, in order to advertise their "goods". News groups and bulletin boards, as well as websites, can also be easily used to attract the uninformed consumer. Once a crook puts up a website, "carefully chosen keywords will rank highly on Internet searches drawing thousands of consumers directly to it," (Internet Fraud Watch). Philip Elmer-DeWitt, in his article, "I've been spammed!",describes an incident he encountered with newsgroups. He had involuntarily volunteered to join newsgroups on a great variety of subjects, causing his mailbox to be constantly filled with junk mail.

Criminals can also hide their tracks on the internet quite easily. Free email accounts allow them to set up accounts for one time use, disguising email headers so they look like they come from a different location (Internet Fraud Watch).