How to Avoid the Scams that Spam Brings

I recently checked an email address I use infrequently and was "pleased" to learn that I had won the Euro equivalent of $943,400.16. I haven't won that much money in an unsolicited foreign sweepstakes/lottery for nearly a year. It really is very kind of questionable foreign entities to be so generous as to give away money at no benefit to themselves while promptly notifying the winners of all the sensitive personal information they need to divulge in order to claim their prize. I mean they even provided me with an overseas phone number to call where they can then take control of my phone line and make unauthorized calls amassing insanely expensive charges for myself, which I will be powerless to eradicate from my phone bill. But hey, who cares... I can afford it now. I'm rich!

Seriously though, I hope no one falls for these scams. Unfortunately, online fraud is rampant today as criminals - yes internet fraud is a crime - are constantly spamming email accounts, posting on blogs, discussion boards and the like in hopes of ensnaring the unwary internet user.

According to the US Department of Justice, there are six major types of internet fraud: Auction and Retail Schemes Online, Business Opportunity/"Work-at-Home" Schemes Online, Identity Theft and Fraud, Investment Schemes Online, Credit-Card Schemes, and Other Schemes.

With so many different types of online fraud and its inescapable prevalence, you might be asking, "what more can I do to protect myself?" You've already installed software for spam filtering, virus protection, and an internet firewall to try and ward off direct attacks on the personal information stored in your computer... What else is there?

Fortunately, the answer doesn't involve investing in another software program or new and expensive hardware. The next step in protecting yourself is to adopt a healthy dose of wary skepticism and get informed.

As a newly established skeptic, you should always evaluate the sender name and subject line before opening an email that made it past your spam filter. If you don't recognize the name and aren't expecting emails from unsolicited and unknown entities, just DELETE it. If you find this hard to do, just think of what you have to gain verses what you have to lose... then delete it. Don't worry; this will get easier with time and practice. Also, don't be fooled by subject lines stating things like, "RE: Important Question" or "Urgent Information about your Account." Again, if you don't recall requesting or sending email traffic of this nature it is likely bothersome spam at best or a virus or scam at worst.

If an email passes this initial sensibility test, the second step is to evaluate the contents. If it is asking for any kind of personal information, money, or action on your part (especially if a link is included), it is time to apply the information test. At this point, you should realize that your greatest vulnerability to becoming a victim of online fraud is also your greatest strength - access to the internet.

Something as simple as a Google or Yahoo search including the phone number or URL in an email will often be enough to expose a likely scam. In the case of my example at the beginning of this article, a quick Google search of the phone number came up with over twenty different results for web pages warning about this phone number associated with fraudulent activity.

Many other internet resources are also available to help you recognize and deal with online fraud. The list below contains some you may find very useful.

Google http://www.google.com as mentioned before is superb for searching for keywords related to your inquiry

Snopes http://snopes.comis one of my favorite sites for debunking urban myths and misconceptions to include popular scams

The US Department of Justice http://www.internetfraud.usdoj.gov has an internet fraud website that talks about everything from what fraud is to what is being done about it and how you can get more information

The US Securities and Exchange Commission http://www.sec.gov/investor/pubs/cyberfraud.htm describes how to avoid internet investment scams

The FBI http://www.fbi.gov/majcases/fraud/internetschemes.htm offers tips to protect yourself and your family from various forms of Internet fraudIf and when you discover internet fraud, the links below will help you report this type of criminal activity.

USA.gov http://www.usa.gov/Citizen/Topics/Internet_Fraud.shtml

The National Fraud Information Center http://www.fraud.org/

The Internet Crime Complaint Center http://www.ic3.gov/Remember, if you ever get a link to follow in your email, even if it appears legitimate; just take the few extra seconds required to type in the URL you know is correct, rather than blindly following the provided link. Those few seconds might save you years of grief while you try to explain away the second and third "you" traveling around the country and living off your money.