From criminals selling stolen property on Craigslist to posing as a family member asking for money through e-mail, the Internet is rife with scams. While most criminals responsible for scams work from out-of-state or even the country, the damage they cause can be found close to home.

Det. James Marsh with the Haywood County Sheriff’s Office sees it all too often.

“People think that because they’re sitting in their pajamas in front of their computer in the living room that there’s privacy and that they’re safe and that’s absolutely not the truth. The Internet is very difficult to police because it’s worldwide and usually the technology stays ahead of us,” Marsh said.

From his experience, Marsh said most of the victims of online fraud locally are people in their 50s and 60s who have not ...