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The Low Down on Email Scams |
Email scams are all over the Internet these days. It seems like everyday a new version of an email scam is popping up. You need to educate yourself on these email scams so that you don't fall victim to these scammers. This article will give an overview of the most common email scams.
One of the most common email scams is the Nigerian bank scam. This scam may have several variations but the basic premise is the same. A large sum of money needs to moved out of the country to an American bank account. You get to keep a small percentage of the money for being a kind soul and helping out this wealthy family, church, captives of war, etc. Once you agree to help you will get flooded with more emails requesting a payment to help pay legal fees or to help pay various other fees to get the money transferred. These emails will be very convincing and will constantly promise a large sum of money to you in return for all of your effort. Basic rule with these emails....Hit the delete button!
Another common one is the lottery scams. You will receive an email with congratulations, you have won a large sum of money. They will then ask you for personal information that will be used to rob you or they will ask for a processing fee. Sometimes they will require that you buy products from their website before you can claim your prize. The lesson behind this is, if you didn't enter a sweepstakes or lottery, then you didn't win it. Never, ever, follow the links in these emails and never provide any type of personal information.
The pyramid scheme has been around for a long time. It used to be utilized through the mail before the Internet came along. Remember those letters that you would get that said if you send just one dollar to each person on the list and add your name to the bottom of the list you would start receiving large sums of money in the mail in a few weeks. This is highly illegal and it does not work. The moral of this story is "If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is."
Another email scam is the promise of making big money from home. This is either in the form of taking surveys for huge amounts of cash, joining a MLM company or stuffing envelopes. If these programs require an up-front fee to get started then they are most likely a scam. The truth is, there is no way of making easy money. You cannot "get rich quick" and any program that promises that you can is lying to you. You can make money on the Internet, however it requires a whole lot of work and time.
These are a few examples of emails you may receive that are scams. A good rule is to never reply to an email from someone that you don't know or that you did not request information from. The Internet is a wonderful place, full of legitimate money making opportunities. Unfortunately, it is also full of con artists hoping to get their hands on your hard earned cash. Be very skeptical of anything that promises money for doing nothing.
Article source http://w4rum.com/2604.t
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| [By Kimber Fulcher] [05/May/07] |
