by Jacquelyn Lynn

Created on: November 10, 2008   Last Updated: April 16, 2010

Don't be a Victim: How to Protect Yourself from Online Scams

How dangerous is the internet? You might as well ask, how dangerous is your neighborhood? As in the real world, your risks increase and decrease based on the type of online communities you frequent. And also as in the real world, you never know when a criminal is going to strike because crimes occur even in the best of neighborhoods.

Simply having a computer and an e-mail account makes you potentially vulnerable to internet crime. Your best defense is knowledge and common sense: Know what type of schemes internet criminals are trying to pull off and remember that any deal that sounds too good to be true usually is.

Internet crimes tend to be financial and thieves play on two key emotions: fear and greed. The perpetrator may deliver a threat of some sort your bank account is going to be frozen, the IRS is going to audit you, or your personal information will be compromised in some way in order to gain access to your financial accounts for theft and/or your identity information for additional ID theft-related fraud. Or the perpetrator could offer you a quick and easy way to make some money, often by doing something that sounds innocent but will usually end up costing you far more than you thought you would make.

Con artists  named for their ability to gain the confidence of their victims are often skilled at persuading people to participate in their scams, and they have the same access to the internet as anyone else. Some online scammers will spend months getting to know and building trust with their targets in chat rooms, on dating sites, and in other online venues before putting their scheme into action.

Let's take a look at some of the current internet crime schemes as identified by the Internet Crime Complaint Center:

Auction Fraud

Auction fraud typically involves the misrepresentation or non-delivery of a product advertised for sale through an online auction site. In one common auction fraud, the seller posts the item as if he resides in the United States, then responds to the "winner" (buyer) with an e-mail stating that he is out of the country for some reason and requests that payment be wired directly to him via Western Union, MoneyGram, or bank-to-bank wire transfer. Using those sources makes the money virtually unrecoverable and leaves the victim with no recourse. For more details on auction fraud and how to avoid it, visit www.eBay.com and www.paypal.com.

Counterfeit Cashier's Check

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