Lets try and break it down. There are scams, where people promise far too much to get your initial payment and then leave you with poor information etc. And there are phishing scams where the criminal will stalk you to try and get your personal information so he can abuse it.

That quick buck has been made in many different types of scams. My favourites are the job scams where these companies will pay you for reading their content, proofing their content, or writing surveys. My worst experience was paying R400 to some company online where they would send me surveys and I would get up to R50 per survey. Well I unfortunately battled to find the survey sites first hand because the company would only give their website list after the payment. But naturally I found some of the sites without their help. That was their job done. Thanks for the cash. We'll email you the list. And that was that. I was had. Not a single website offered cash, there were some form of prize but you had to collect hundreds of points or credit to win a cd or a small stuffed animal. But in the beginning I had lost out. This is just one of the few scams I've been the victim of, gullible Thomas, as I have lost cash on concert tickets, job applications, and counterfeit email scams from the bank or tax man because I didn't read the fine print. That was a couple hundred pounds.

So here's some advice when looking out for scams. The real hustlers out there will say anything to get your buck. So if they hound you forever and ever. They are probably just trying to take your money. Big bold claims, flashy images and fake testimonials are just a few of the tactics that are working on to get you there. It's weird considering that there are thousands upon thousands of scams which gives the indication that they at least work at stealing your money and bearing no return on it. Let us just focus that we should not be as gullible as we are. We want to be wiser, but the desperation of making money without the effort is only for the lucky and not for every Joe Soap.

You must remember that these scam artists are sometimes not after just your money. With a few details like you name and address, you could be without an identity! And then they can rake all your savings from the bank. Identity theft has increased dramatically in the last decade because of our ever-connectedness online and in other spheres.



According to the Federal Trade Commission Identity theft is the fastest growing crime globally. Experts estimate that about 10 million people become victims each year. That means every minute, 19 people become new victims of identity fraud! In fact, according to the US Department of Justice, drug trafficking is now being replaced by identity theft as the number one crime.

If you become a victim, it will probably take you hundreds of hours and an average of $1,000 to recover from ID theft. Even worse, some innocent victims have ended up in prison because identity thieves have committed crimes in their names.

That's why identity theft prevention is so important; we want to help you protect yourself from this nightmare.

Many of the others can be reduced by using the same common sense approach about where you give out information that is described above.

Here are a few other tips to keeping your identity safe:

1. Watch out for merchants who offer promises that look too good to be true, and don't give you any offline way to contact them or verify their validity. If you know the merchant, you're probably safe, but if not – it would be wise to avoid it.
   
   This especially applies to offers you receive via spam. Remember: If it's spam, it's scam.
   
   
2. Don't post private information on discussion lists or forums, even if they're alleged to be private. You never know who's listening.
   
   This may seem obvious, but you would be surprised at how much private information we've seen posted in places it should never be! (I for one have posted in chatrooms...Never Again!)
   
   
3. Keep your passwords off your computer, and always have different passwords for each site where you need them. Make sure they're not obvious words, strings of successive numbers, or anything else that would be remotely possible for someone to guess. Crackers frequently use programs that run what are called "dictionary attacks" on servers, looking for private info stored behind poor passwords.
   
   A combination that includes both letters and numbers, and which is eight characters long, will make things much more secure!
   
   
4. Always run good, up-to-date anti-virus software and a personal firewall. There are ways that a program can be planted on your computer that will allow other people to take control of it (Trojan horse virus), deleting data, running software, even downloading files from your machine. Including any personal information you may have stored there.

So these are a few tips to keeping you and your personal information safe. With criminals getting more experienced and smarter than the systems there is always the threat of identity theft without you even knowing it. A silent crime that isn't noticed until it is far too late. Keep your eyes open for these errors we all make, and you will find yourself very well protected. Keep your eye on www.dailyscamalerts.com for the latest in scams around the net.