by Henri Zimand

Created on: May 10, 2010   Last Updated: May 11, 2010

Online fraud has become very sophisticated and has grown tremendously. In fact over five billion dollars from Ecommerce alone. I would add here another 2 -3 billion dollars for non Ecommerce business and frauds.

It is not only credit card fraud, it is also letters you get saying you won an amount anywhere from twenty thousand to fifty million dollars. It goes on to charities that are fraudulent and sellers on sites like EBay where often you will never get the goods. It continues to goods you can buy at much lower price than their real value, dating scams where people ask you for money or impersonate another person.

You also have these emails you get saying there are problems with your credit cards or bank accounts, and that they are requesting all your details to make sure that all is all right. In fact if you look at the web address, you will see that you are giving the information to someone else who impersonated the institutions.

So let us go more into details now, let us take EBay, when you want to buy an item, look at how good the seller is rated and how he wants his payment. If he takes Pay Pal or credit cards which are insured by EBay, you can go ahead in most cases. If the seller wants you to do a Western Union cash transfer, the answer is immediately DO NOT do it. I have had two cases as such where my goods never arrived. It was for small amounts, but there are people who buy for large amounts and never get the goods and, for sure, not the money back.

Charities in the last few years have grown like mushrooms on the Internet. I am for charities and give lots of money to charities. What is happening on the Internet is that you get new organizations with some beautiful sites and ideas but the money never arrives to the intended objective or so little. The reason is very simple, the people found a way by which they take big salaries and offices where most of the money is spent and so little remains if any at all.

I remember once a charity coming to me, asking me for three hundred thousand dollars per year to go to schools and preach against kids using drugs. I believe that this is a must, so I asked them to give me details. When I received the details, I was shocked, the person going to the schools and preaching was receiving twenty four thousand dollars and the rest was all administrative costs. Of course, I did not help them because I was not going to pay salaries and profit to people doing nothing.

It cannot be possible to buy a new car at half the price or 40% less, it is normally a scam. Your bank will never ask you for confidential information over the email.

Always check to whom you are giving money and how you are giving money. No one will give you something for nothing. When it looks to good to be true, open your eyes and do some research.

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