Financial scams on the Web, part 2

The Web a great place to shop, pay bills or sell, but it is turning out to be more dangerous every day as criminals come up with ever more clever ways to trick us into divulging our personal information to them. The Internet is a useful tool that allows many of us to conduct business and commerce from our homes or offices without having to go somewhere to do so.

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Here are some additional scams to keep away from while surfing the World Wide Web:

• Get Rich Quick scams - Promotions to acquire a lot of cash very effortlessly are very prominent on the Web and they regularly find their way into the inboxes of users by way of electronic mail. One popular get rich quick scheme involves selling a book for $125 that will tell you the secret of earning $1000 each and every day. Shoppers who buy into this financial scam realize that the "secret" is to write a booklet about how to make money and sell it.

• Debt Consolidation promotions - If you really have too many bills, seek out an experienced credit counseling organization. E-mail solicitations that offer to eliminate your debt, or consolidate debts are almost always financial scams. Don't try to repair the problem by responding to e-mail messages from a stranger. Debt reduction financial scams simply want you to pay them money to apply for their "system", whatever it might be, and they really just want your cash. While it is possible to obtain a loan to consolidate debt or establish a repayment schedule with your creditors, a debtor can seldom solve these kinds of problems by replying to unrequested electronic mail. If you pay by charge card, debt scammers may use the credit card to make off with your identity, which might make your already poor monetary situation worse.
• Foreign Lottery - E-mail messages that offer lottery prizes are common. Dishonest people send out e-mail messages notifying the recipient that they have won more than $10,000 in a foreign lottery and give out a contact phone number so that the recipient can claim their winnings. The foreign sweepstakes scheme demands the victim to send a payment to cover "processing" for their winnings in some foreign lottery, but if the user sends the payment, the cash never comes. Any e-mail messages promising winnings from other country's lotteries must always be avoided, as it is illegal for People in the United States to enter other country's lotteries. 
• Drugs - This popular ripoff works due to the fact that people do respond to it, as drugs are pricey. Smart consumers will know not to buy drugs from strangers who send them e-mail and that giving your charge card number to strangers can lead to identity theft. Scammers send out millions of e-mail messages every day offering marked down Viagra, Cialis, or any one of a number of additional name brand pharmaceutical products. There may be state sanctioned organizations that provide drugs via the Internet by means of unsolicited e-mail as marketing, but sharp consumers will keep away from these kinds of things. Drug financial crimes are among the most widely used on the Web.

A large number of of these schemes seem completely legitimate, so it is up to the consumer to be wary of any offer that comes in via electronic mail that might seem too good to be true. Remember, no one ever got hurt by using caution. There are many criminals on the Internet who would like nothing more than to steal your cash, your personal information or your identity.