The Internet User's Guide to SCAMS

For as long as there has been commerce and business, there has all ways been scams following right behind. Now, I know what you may be thinking: "This won't happen to me!" or, "No, I'm too sharp and internet savvy to fall for any of this crap!" This is what I thought at one point too, then one day, I almost lost close to $2,000.00 AND could have wound up in jail! Some magnificent job opportunity that was!

There are scams everywhere. They appear in newspaper, magazine, and internet classifieds advertising what looks like a simply awesome employment opportunity generally consisting of a ridiculously small amount of work done for an even more ridiculous amount of money in return. Ofcourse, offers like these look very attractive, but the truth is it is all wolves in sheeps clothing. This article has been crafted to act as a comprehensive guide to unveiling these scams and, best of all, how to avoid them.

Let's face it, some of these scams are pretty obvious. You would be surprised at others though. Below, you will find out that some scammers don't only go after your money and money alone, but sometimes, even your life could be endangered. I have listed them in order regarding their risk ("1." being the most obvious and usually least financially damaging.)

1.) Envelope Stuffing Scam - These pop up in newspaper/magazine ads and internet ads normally at the same pace. In this scam, the scammer disguises themselves as a company that is looking for home-workers to send out "flyers and sales literature" to prespecified addresses. This "company" promises the victim usually two to ten dollars per envelope sent out, "GUARANTEED!" The catch is, the victim must first send in anywhere from twenty to sixty dollars for a registration fee, or to "show that the applicant is serious about this opportunity." (Er... Okay... I'm totally not going to be serious about making ten dollars for simply sending out mail!) Once the money has been sent, the scammer will send their victim the "company's" sales literature, which turns out to be the same ad that the victim first responded to, and if the receiver is interested, they are requested to send that two to ten dollars mentioned above to the victim, and the victim is requested to send the addresses of the people interested (new victims) to the scammer. There are different little variants to this scam, but it really doesn't matter though, because: There are no such thing as envelope stuffers! When a company needs to mass mail sales literature, it is done mechanically; it's all automated. Another alternative for a legitimate company to send out mailers is to hire the post office, who will send out this sales literature for under twenty-five cents a pop. This scam is suspected to have surfaced around the times of the great depression, ironically.

2.) Assembly Job Scam - In this scam, similar to the above scam, the scammer poses as a company that is beginning to outsource assembly work (crafts, knick-knacks, small furniture, etc.) and they are looking for home-based workers to do so.
The scammer advetises that they will send you the materials to make a certain item, and then once the victim sends the completed item back, they will be paid quite lucratively. The catch is, once the victim constructs the items and sends them back to the scammer, the scammer does not pay up, claiming the items are not up to quality standards. Furthermore, the items are never up to quality standards. Unless you are willing to find your own customers (and a legitimate wholesaler of the materials so you do not get ripped off,) stay away from this scam. A legitimate version of this job would probably be offered locally, and may or may not include and option to work at home. In any case, they will not make you pay for any start up kits, if they are legitimate.

3.) Online Survey Scam - In this scam, the scammer advertises a directory of companies that will pay for people's opinion regarding upcoming products. They make it sound like these surveys could supplement a full time income. All the victim has to do to gain access to these survey sites is to, ofcourse, pay for it. First of all, these can be found for free. Second of all, unless you are willing to sign up to take surveys on over a thousand websites, you will probably not be making a full time monthly income.

4.) The "GUARANTEED*" (or "FREE*") Item Scam - The scams often appear in the bulk e-mail folder, but every now and then they make their way into potential victim's inboxes. The scammer is advertising a free, or a guaranteed (with an asterisk behind both "free" and "guaranteed") item upon completion of a few offers from various sponsors. The scammer gets paid on commission for how many offers the victim signs up for, and the victim never receives anything at all in return, besides a bunch of paid subscriptions and limited free trials to services or products they probably did not originally want in the first place.

5.) Lottery/Sweepstakes Scam - A "company" will send potential victims e-mails or letters telling them that they have millions or even billions of dollars waiting for them. Usually they will also tell potential victims (who are pretty much randomly selected) that they have been trying to contact them for quite some time, and that the deadline is almost up. The letters are usually carefully worded, so it appears that the victim has infact won something, but does not outright say so. If you won the lottery/sweepstakes, wouldn't they really want you to know you've won? At the bottom of the letter, you guessed it, they ask for the usual twenty to sixty dollar processing fee. Once the money is sent to the scammer, the victim will receive a list of sweepstakes and lotteries they can enter, but no actual huge winning check or anything like that. Sometimes they might not even send anything at all. In any case, such a list is deffinately not worth that much. Sometimes they may follow up later that they need more money for yet another processing fee. I think we have the picture as to where this is going.

6.) Government Grant Scam - While government grants do exist, and needless to say they are legitimate, some scammers exploit the concept of these grants. They appear in various online ads and probably offline as well, offering to sell the victims information on how they can supposively secure a grant very easily. These scammers make it sound like the government is just handing out money to go shopping with! The information is usually a directory of grants that cost the victim fourty to sixty dollars that tell people nothing of how to apply for a grant, let alone the first step of even getting a grant. While government grants are available, they are usually put towards research, or a project that could benefit a community as a whole.

7.) Scholarship Scams - These are very similar to the above scam regarding government grants. The victims are again sold overpriced, outdated information that generally won't help out as far as obtaining a scholarship. Generally, the same information the potential victim would pay fourty to sixty dollars for can be found for free.

Those were the scams that will usually only leave people out of twenty to sixty dollars; just enough to aggravate someone, but not really dent their budget too bad. From here on, I will explain some of the more dangerous scams that can leave someone without hundreds or even thousands of dollars, or even dead.

8.) The "Big, New, Revolutionary System!" Scam - These usually are not necessarily outright scams, but they are quite reality distorting. They mostly come in the form of a single webpage that tells you, in about a thousand different ways, to buy their guide, but does not give you any solid insight as to what the program/system is actually about. By doing this, they give their victims the illusion that they are actually being informed about something. They ask their potential victims questions not even worth asking: "Do you want to make a fortune right from your computer!?" or "Do you want to work with ANY boss looking over your shoulder!?" Once they get their victim's hopes up, the victim goes to the bottom of the page to see a price that usually goes something like this: "For information that would usually cost you $199.00, you can get it today for $99.00! But the price is going back up soon!" How does anyone know that the information (they are usually selling an e-book or some kind of software) ever was actually $199.00? The point is, this internet business guru could just be right off the streets writing e-books and selling them. There is no way anybody can say for sure someone else will become a millionaire off of their system without even knowing their business background.

9.) HYIP (High Yield Investment Portfolio) Scam - These scams are popping up a lot on the internet. They often refer to legitimate companies such as E-gold (www.e-gold.com) and the ForEx System (www.dxinone.com) and other various currency exchange/currency oriented companies. These scams request that people invest usually a hundred to a thousand-some dollars, and explain that the victims will receive a hefty return. Now, some of these HYIP programs are legitimate, but that doesn't mean that they're safe. If you are thinking about investing into one of these, the best way I have heard it put is do not put any more money into the investment than you would be comfortable with throwing in the trash can. Also, be sure to research and verify who you are handing your money over to, and the soonest you will get a return on your investment.

10.) Credit Repair Scam - Scammers find an easy target out of people with bad credit and overwhelming bills. The scammers advertise that they can repair a a victims credit for a small price. The fact is, credit does not just disappear. It takes work on your part if you want to repair your credit. Credit counselors are available, but nobody can simply make your credit history vanish. If a scammer does bother to stick around and "help" their victim, the victim will only be supplied with instructions that could get themselves in trouble for fraud.

11.) Medical Billing/Coding/Transcriptionist Scam - In this scam, the victim will have expressed interest in a medical billing/coding/transcriptionist job usually found in an internet classified section. As per usual, twenty to sixty (sometimes even more) is asked for a training manual that will explain how to start, what is needed, and sometimes even a list (usually quite outdated) of places that are hiring. Well, the equipment to get started ranges around $1,500.00 to $2,000.00, and as for training, most places that are hiring require some time through college. The scammer generally leaves the victim out of $2,000.00, a job, and the money spent for the "information." While this job is ofcourse legitimate, the chances of performing the job at home all depends on who you are working for, and it will usually be some place local to you.

12.) E-bay/Online Trade Scam - This scam is just like the old fashioned rip off, except brought to the internet. This scam can happen in two ways. If the scammer is selling something, they will simply take the money and run, never sending the item they supposively sold, which probably never existed in their posession in the first place. If the scammer is buying something, they will use a fraudulent means of paying their victim (ie. bad check, explained more later.) Before you make a transaction online with another person, be sure to verify them and make sure they have a good record (this can be checked easily on E-bay.)

13.) Nigerian 419 Scam - This scam originated in Nigeria, and is reffered to as "419" because that is the number that refers to the Nigerian criminal code regarding this scam. The potential victim is sent an e-mail that goes like this:

"Dear Sir/Madam,
Hello, I am ___, the lawyer of ___ who has $22,000,000.00 (TWENTY-TWO MILLION USD) and I am looking for someone to be able to claim as a dependant for these funds... If you want to help me out, please contact me at [specified e-mail address, usually different from the one they sent you the original letter) and I will split the funds with you.

The exact wording of each e-mail all depends on the scammer, but the scammer generally states they are someone of a high stature and they claim they are looking for someone to claim as a dependant for these supposive funds because the next of kin can not be loated. Sometimes they may even exploit an actual tragedy in which a wealthy person has passed away. Take a moment to imagine that you have spent your life building a very strong legacy, and whenever someone types your name into a search engine, the first sites that pop up are tying your name to some 419 scam that has been reported. I just had you imagine that to better help grasp the mentality of these scammers: they simply don't care! Anyway, after the victim replies, the scammer requests that the victim sends back an attatched photo ID, name, address, phone number, and bank account. After all the formalities (to keep the guise up the scam is a true opportunity) are out of the way, the scammer will eventually ask for anywhere from $1,000.00 to the hundred thousand dollar range for a processing fee imposed by the firm holding the money (which is actually the scammer using yet a different name and e-mail address.) They will ask that this fee is to be sent via Western Union so the funds can not be traced so easily. After that, the scammer disappears, along with the "processing fee" that is sent by the victim. In other cases, people have been requested by the scammer they they travel overseas only to be kidnapped, raped, tortured, and/or killed. These scams tend to originate or implicate the United Kingdom, Holland, and Nigeria.

14.) Money-mule Scam - This is the scam that almost bit me in the butt. The scammer will advertise a job opening through various online means (search engines, career searches, classifieds, etc.) that consists of transferring money internationally. They often claim they are involved with currency exchange or a service that secures funds left in the USA by deportees. They start off by asking for the victims name, telephone number, address and bank account number, and then they send the victim a check. The victim is suppose to cash this check and send the money via Western Union while keeping a percentage of the total funds for themselves as payment. This scam looks great, because it requires no upfront investment, and the victim figures there's no way they can get ripped off since they're the first ones with their hands on the money anyways. Ofcourse, there's a catch. Checks take 7-10 days to completely clear at the bank, but are released for use a lot earlier (if not immediately) for convenience. Once that money is sent through Western Union, the amount of the bad check is debited from the victims account. Depending on how vigilant the bank is, they may report the victim themselves as being the scammer. Most of these scams occur in Eastern Europe or Russia, where laws against such scams are almost comically lax. However, I have seen a few based in the United Kingdom.

15.) Bank Account Fraud - In this scam, e-mails crafted to look like messages from a legitimate bank are sent to various customers of a bank. The e-mail message will usually request that the victim should send account sensitive information, via a fraudulently created website or through e-mail. To put the pressure on, the scammer will say that the victim must reply quickly, or else their account could be closed. Financial institutions in which you have an account will not just out of the blue ask you for information regarding your account, such as your password, username, PIN, etc. Banks have pretty much upgraded their password encryption to Triple-DES; in other words, a computer hacker would need alien technology to break that encryption. The point being, the bank staff themselves do not even see the password or username.

16.) Charity Scams - During this low-down scam, the scammer will exploit a tragic situation that requires financial assistance. The scammer may exploit a recent large scale negative event, or create a depressing personal story. In any case, the scammer uses the victims sympathy to their ill-willed advantage. I have come across a couple of charity scam websites that ask for both a donation and have a suspicious opening for a money transfer agent. As good as it is to have the desire to fund a positive cause, some charities are nothing more than a means to fill up a scammers wallet. Be sure to investigate a charity before you donate.

17.) Disaster Scams - These are very similar to charity scams, except they focus more on the victims of a disaster. The scammer will reach out to disaster victims and offer to help them in some way (rebuilding or repairing their property) for a price, but they do not come through. The work done is very unsatisfactory (if not just making things worse off), and the victim is now a victim of a disaster and a scam, and out of thousands of dollars. Truley pathetic.

I'm sure that in time the scammers will come up with new ones, but I have covered many of the scams out there today. The way to avoid scams - even if you come across one not listed here, this method will work. Check companies out with the BBB (Better Business Bureau,) and do some research on any companies that seem suspicious. Be sure to ask questions, make sure a working telephone number and address is included. Legitimate companies are more than happy to provide references and any type of authorization you request to verify them. If someone seems offended by the fact you want to verify them, or gives you unsatisfactory, vague answers, they are probably scammers.

If you have been scammed:
Call the financial instutions (bank, credit card issuer, etc.) and have your accounts and cards blocked (if applicable), then, report the scam to the police. They will often request that you bring them the correspondences between yourself and the scammer, and evidence of how you got involved into the scam.

The best piece of advice I would like to pass along regarding scams is this: If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.