Through profiles of individual victims and companies, this exploration of cyber crime identifies the commonly used criminal methods, such as viruses, spam, and junk e-mail, and the legal rights of users against this increasingly international phenomenon. Old-fashioned criminals are waking up to the new opportunities and exponential payback of internet crime, adapting schemes like blackmail and money laundering to this vast new landscape. To better expose the activity of cyber felons who cost consumers in the United States about $50 billion a year, this guide also gives preventative advice to help the not-so-savvy computer users protect themselves from financial and identity theft on the Internet.