It's becoming increasing common for people to be targeted by con and scam-merchants, figures suggest around 28 million people in the UK have been the target of scams. Most of the common real world scams have now migrated to the Internet (usually in the form of emails and occasionally websites). The cons work by being professional, catching you unaware at home on the phone, with forged logo's, leaflets and letters, being persistent and of course persuasive to your desires. Always be sure never to rush into a decision, and to research any company before you buy. If it seems too good to be true then it usually is.

Some of the most common current scams,

• Lotteries scams
  • Can be received through the post, phone or by email. Usually state that you have won a prize draw, lottery, sweepstakes and ask you to phone a premium phone number to claim your prize. This usually leads to a meeting where you will asked for a sum of money to claim the prize. Of course the prize never materializes. The first thing you must ask yourself is 'How could I win a prize draw or lottery prize if I haven't bought a ticket?'
    
• Miracle health cure scam
  • One of the most common email spam scams. Usually advertising a new revolutionarily pill, lotion or cream to cure a multitude of health ailments like, impotency, baldness, heart disease, Parkinson's disease, cancer and obesity. If you do actually receive the product beware because they are usually always medically ineffective and can even be dangerous. The products are usually the work of fraudsters who have no form of medical knowledge or training.
    
• Premium rate phone calls scams
  • This is a variation on the previous scam, this time you will only be asked to phone a 090 number to claim your prize. This number will be at a premium rate and will no doubt last for a long period of time. At the end they will offer you something worth a considerable amount less than the cost of the phone call.
• Work from home scams
  • They offer work opportunities where you can make lot of money from the comfort of your own home. Not all of these adverts or emails are scams but a good percentage are. Mainly the ones stating that you can make £30,000 a year without having any skills, qualifications or expertise. Especially if this means no overheads, selling, or genuine work. Some of the more common scams are addressing envelopes, training in how to place similar advertisements for a fee, home assembly kits you pay for but cannot sell. The two things which should set alarm bells ringing are being asked for money up front and the promise of earning large amounts of money for performing a simple task.
• Pyramid schemes
  • One of the most famous scams which is now illegal in the UK. Famous no doubt because of the amount of people recruited and who lost large sums of money. The basic premise is that you are joining a 'moneymaking' club. You will pay a joining fee (usually hundreds or thousands of pounds), and then will be pressured into recruiting new members for a similar amount. However, the money never filters down the pyramid and those at the top make alot of money. Those at the bottom soon realise that the money only filters upwards and not downwards and the scheme soon collapses. The only way it could work is if an endless supply of new members joined. But of course there becomes a saturation point of no new members and this is when the collapse occurs.
    
• Email spam scams
  • Many of these originate from Nigeria. They can include a variation on all the above scams. But presently they send emails pretending to be from your bank such as HSBC, Barclays or Natwest. Usually it states it's from the website administration and for some reason they need your username or password. They then ask for personal details of your account or credit card. They can also do the same for sites like Ebay and Amazon, hoping you will send them your password. These scams can be very cunning - and seem very legitimate. The first rule to abide by is that websites like banks will never ask for your username or password by email.
    
• Phishing
  • Is a variation on the above which can be in the form of an email or website pop-up advert. It will state that your computers security has been breached, or an unauthorised transaction on your account has occurred. Of course to ensure that your account has not been compromised, they will ask you to click a link and confirm your identity by filling in your username, password and personal details.