MEDICAL CURES FRAUDS - These frauds play on those who are sick and seeking a cure for some ailment. They offer the following: Miracle Breakthroughs, New and Improved, Newly Discovered, Secret Ingredients, etc, etc. What gets me is that why would these so called cures come in an e-mail from a jackleg you don't know? Check with the FDA about any so called new cure. Plus if it was so new,  you would hear about it in the news. I can tell you that 99.9% of these e-mails are bogus and I would not risk my life on some "cure" sent to me from an e-mail from someone I never heard of.

 Included in this scam are fake insurance companies that are advertising low insurance premiums for any pre-existing condition. They send e-mails or even send you letters at your house to sign up to for their "insurance". Then when it is time to use what you have paid for you discover that the company is a fake and they have closed down and moved on. Before sending any money check with your state's insurance commissioner to see if the company is licensed for business in your state. And read the policy very carefully.

 "SEND YOUR OFFER TO MILLIONS OF E-MAIL ADDRESSES" -  This is a spammers delight. Oh sure you can take them up on their offer to have them do this for you. But stop and think: If you do this then you become a spammer too! By sending out millions of unsolicited e-mails to people, you are coming down to their level. Try to invest in marketing that is legit try to get permission before sending e-mails.

 URGENT! YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION IS OUTDATED. PLEASE UPDATE NOW!

 In which you are told that your "information" is outdated and needs updating. You click on a link in this e-mail and it takes you to another site in which you enter your personal information. What they are really after is your personal information and once they have it they can steal your identity, your bank accounts, credit cards and even more. This is called "Phishing" in that they are "fishing" for your personal information. And the site you are redirected to is a fake. (Called a "Spoof" site).

 Usually these Spoof sites are poor in construction and even worse in spelling. Most of them come from outside the United States. But some are very close to the real site. So the word here is to never click on this link and to just delete it. A legit company will not send you a link in an e-mail and they are more than likely to use your real name, not some obscure title or none at all. Use good and common sense on this one.

 "FREE LOANS....BAD CREDIT O.K....EASY TO QUALIFY. - Talk about kicking a person when down. This scam picks on those who are trying to repair their credit or need a loan for whatever reason. Usually you have to pay after giving out your personal information to make the "loan". You can be taken in 2 ways on this scam. By giving out your personal information the scammer can do even more damage to you. And if you pay the upfront loan fee, chances are you won't ever hear from them again. This scam can come under the guise as a credit card, home equity loan, or even a debt consolidation loan. Deal with only reputable companies if you need these services. Ask the BBB for background information on a company advertising these services. Also you can find these scams being pitched in your

local newspaper classifieds. Don't send ANYONE ANYTHING!!!

 A similar scam is one offering to clean up your credit for a fee. Some sell you informationon how to get a new social security number and just drop your old number with it's bad debts. "Illegal" says the government. Jail time and a fine if you are caught doing this.

 Still another way this scam is done is over the phone. Telemarketers will hawk the advance fee guaranteed loan or advance fee credit card to you over the phone. And of course it's on the internet as well. I got one offer for a credit card from a company that wanted to charge me $6.00 a month for the card, $149 processing fee, $79 administrative fee, and a $15 application fee. All this for a $250 credit limit. Needless to say it went straight to the shredder.

 WORK AT HOME.....MAKE HUNDREDS OR EVEN THOUSANDS WEEKLY! - Awww come on now. The stuffing envelope/assembly/or whatever scam has hit the internet. if I was working from home making thousands of dollars like this, you think I would tell everybody what I was doing? That's more competition which means I would earn less. Let me say this: There are some legit work at home opportunities out there. You will have to do some work to find them, and then check them out closely first. Caution is the word here.

 "YOU HAVE WON A FREE 3DAY 2 NIGHT OR 5 DAY 4 NIGHT VACATION TO......" - Oh really? I never filled out an entry form for this contest. So how is it I won a free vacation? Hmmm... sounds fishy to me. Say what??? You going to give me $1000 off a $1500 vacation (Or cruise). I just have to pay $800 for the certificate to do this. What's that ships name? The S.S. J.U.B.A.R.? (Jacked Up Beyond All Repair). Hey,  let's go. My name is Stu Pidd!

 You could apply the above to those contests all over the world you have won. As I sit here and type this, I can think of at least 5 countries around the world that I have won the lottery in even though I have never sent in any money to play.

Also, be on the watch for phony contests. A crook will pretend to hold a phony contest in the hopes of getting as much personal information out of you as possible. Make sure you know the company you are sending in your contest entry form to.

 THE NIGERIAN (OR WHEREVER ELSE) MONEY MOVER - How many e-mails we all have received on this scam? Offering to move millions of dollars out of their country into my bank account if I just give them my bank account number. GET REAL! And if you think no one has fallen for this scam think again. when this scam first appeared (In 1994 I think) some people actually went to Nigeria to do this and got killed in the process. And Nigeria isn't the only country that this scam comes from.

In 2003, a man here in Kansas City fell for this scam and lost over $18,000. And he was about to send them another $43,000 more! And in Winona, Minnesota a man defrauded 7 people of $200,000 in a fake glove investment scheme, and he then fell for one of the Nigerian scams, losing the entire $200,000 PLUS another $550,000 as well!

 But I  have to praise "WIRED" magazine. In the August 2002 issue (Page 30),  they published an article with pictures of the Nigerian scammers being scammed. It was sent in by man who took them up on their offer and set up a meeting in Amsterdam. He had the corner where the meeting was to take place wired for video cameras and filmed 2 Nigerians showing up and waiting for him. He never showed up and later sent them an e-mail telling them how he scammed them!

 CYBER BLACKMAIL - This is a new scam but it is catching on fast. A crook will send you an e-mail threatening to expose some secret about you or will threaten to smear your good name all over the internet unless you pay him X amount of dollars. Sometimes the amount extorted is a few dollars while sometimes it much much more. If you give into this scam the first time, the crook will hit you up again and again. Don't fall for this scam the first time, or any time.

 JOB SITE SCAMS - This scam picks on those who are seeking employment and they post their resume online at a job site or send it to a company. A phony company will post a "job opening" on a job website solely for the purpose of collecting as many resume's as possible for their personal information. Once they have them, they then go to work stealing identities. A twist on this also is a Spoof Job Site in which job hunters can submit their resumes on. Job seekers are advised to not put their social security numbers on their resume's or their birth dates. If a job is offered over the internet to not submit financial information.

And to agree to a face to face interview before releasing any information about themselves.

 PERSONAL WEB SITE SCAMS - Millions of people have personal websites that they post pictures and personal information on to keep loved ones in touch with what's going on in their lives. The scammers know this and will look for these sites solely to get as much personal information off them as they can. Then they go to work on stealing your identity. Be very careful what you share online. Home addresses should not be placed on a family website. Neither should full names, addresses, birth dates&birth places, phone numbers for home and work. All a scammer needs is a name and birth date to get a birth certificate in you or someone you love name. With a birth certificate, they can get a drivers license in your name and then the damage is done. And please NEVER put your mothers maiden name on your family website.

 SENIOR CITIZEN SCAMS - Our senior citizens are the most targeted group for scams. They worked hard all their lives only for some wingnut to come along and try to scam them out of their lifes savings. One new offline scam I heard about is a scammer will ride around a nice neighborhood in any city, anywhere USA looking for an elderly person outside their home. When one is found, the scammer will write down the address and a description of the person. They then will go to City Hall and look up the address and find out all they can about the owner of that address. Then the scammer goes down to a different bank as the one listed on the City Hall paperwork (Or go to a equity loan company) and takes out a 1% loan in the persons name. A 1% loan does not attract hardly any attention and its easy to secure. So if you have a $100,000 house, 1% of that is $1000. Plus all the fees involved in taking out the loan. You know nothing about this until you start getting paperwork asking for your first payment.

 URGENT! YOU HAVE WON A MAJOR PRIZE! PLEASE CALL THIS NUMBER TO CLAIM IT. - You may also get an urgent message from someone you know is sick or hurt or even under arrest and they need your help. You are then told to call one of the following prefixes: 664, 758, 809 (Or any other prefixes the scammers use) and in some cases you  are even told to dial the international access code of 011. What happens here is that if you call these numbers your phone will be charged crazy mad per minute rates. You will not find out about them until you get your bill. Some have reported phone bills of several thousand dollars with this scam.

Be on the watch for these so-called urgent messages and know where you are calling. I have an index of all USA area codes and world country codes that I use when in doubt.

 INTERNET AUCTION FRAUD- This is one of the most frequent frauds on the internet. You win an item in an auction and you send your money to the seller and he vanishes. E-Bay is at total war with people like this and they spend a lot of time and money fighting this. In some cases the scammer hijacks a legitimate seller's account and then hold a fake auction in that sellers name. When the auction is over they take the money and run. They say to never wire money direct to a seller but to use an escrow service. (Like PayPal). Also to use a credit card for auction purchases for they will usually reimburse you for any fraud. Also if it is possible to call a seller to set up payment arrangements.

 E-MAIL VIRUSES - There are some M.A.D's. (Misfits And Dimwits) out there that don't have nothing better to do than to send viruses to as many people as they can. And they have become more and more clever at doing this. Not only are e-mail attachments potential virus carriers but clicking on a link on certain websites will unleash a virus in your computer as well.

 Add to this spyware which idiotic idiots try to load on your computer without your knowledge. These programs will record your keystrokes, steal your passwords, and even can be programmed to use your computer as a sender of spam without your knowledge.

 The internet can be a dangerous place. Please be very careful.

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