Don't Fall Prey
To Scams!
Step
1 - What Constitutes A Scam?
In common layman's
terms, an Internet scam is simply a ploy for unscrupulous people to get
your money. They do this by either pyramid schemes (inviting people to
sign up others for "downstream" profits), offering cut-rate prices
on goods and then not delivering them, making grandious claims about future
profits for investments, and much more. The old adage "if it sounds
too good to be true, it probably is" certainly applies in this case.
Have you ever
received email that is addressed to friend@anywhere.com or someone other
than yourself? Ever wonder why you received it, if your name doesn't appear?
With today's
technology, it's easy to doctor up the email headers to make it appear
it's coming from a completely different person and sent to a completely
different address. Why would people choose to do this?
The most popular
reason is because these emails will generate a lot of hate mail in response.
Using a bogus return address ensures the sender won't be bombarded with
complaints. And by using a fake To: address, naive recipients might think
they had received it by mistake, and not complain. Anyone who doesn't stand
behind their product is a vendor worth ignoring.
Scams range from
the "Make Money Fast" to "send out these recipies to 30,000,000
people and watch the money roll in!" to pyramid schemes, crooked Internet
Web site design, to many more things. In a pinch, anything which spouts
unrealistic promises right up until you part with your money is a scam.
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Step
2 - If It Sounds Too Good...Resources To Help
One of the best
places to learn about Internet scams is The
Internet Fraud Watch. This page contains information about identifying
pyramid schemes,
credit repair,
work at home
scams, and much more.
A rather humorous
and extremely well-done site is The MMF Hall
of Humiliation. This site includes a question and answer section, The
MMF of the Week, and many additional resources.
The FTC discusses
some popular email scams here.
Did you know
that a blacklist
of Internet advertisers exists? This list contains folks who spammed
the Internet inappropriately.
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Step
3 - The Two Most Crucial Internet Sites To Learn About Scams
By far, the best
sites I've seen to help you learn about scams and how to avoid them are:
- Scams
101 - a crash course in biz-op self-defense. This wonderful site was
put up a person who experienced just about every scam out there. She also
runs a great home-based business board called "Friends
In Business."
- Internet
Scam Busters - "The Premier Publication On Internet Fraud -- Avoid
Getting Ripped Off By Internet Scams, Fraud, Misinformation And Hype."
You'll find a free newsletter and tons of popular scams to avoid.
Looking for
books? Consider:
 The
Boiler Room and Other Telephone Sales Scams by Robert Joseph Stevenson
- Sure to make you think twice before responding to the next sales call
you receive, this volume explores why telephone boiler rooms and other
scams thrive and how fraudulent and deceptive techniques migrate to and
from conventional businesses.
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