Scams And Shams Found In Your Email

• Pyramid Schemes. Beware of any multi-level marketing plan where you make money by recruiting other members into the plan. Usually, you are not selling products and if you are, you are asked to purchase a great deal of upfront inventory at high prices. Pyramid schemes are illegal.

• Investment Opportunities. Emails advertising great returns on little investment with no risk. This can include investments in business opportunities. Usually the opportunity is a bogus business opportunity in which the sender is trying to make you part with your money.

• Stock Opportunities. Promoters who are trying to promote a stock will send you an email trying to entice you to buy a stock which in reality has no real prospects. The classic pump and dump scam where the promoter pumps up the stock with heavy promotion and then dumps the stock for a profit is a common theme. In the end the innocent investor is left with stock whose price has fallen before he has had a chance to react to the stocks fall.

• Chain Letters. This is the classic scam where the recipient of a letter or in this case an email is ask to pay a small amount to each person on the list and then send on the letter to another person who in turn will do the same. This scheme is illegal.

• Health and Diet Scams. These offers that you find in your email box tout new methods to lose weigh effortlessly or with some magic pill. The representations are false but many people want to pay the necessary price to find out for themselves.

• Work-At-Home Scams. In this scam you are promised a plan where you can make lots of money at home. Typically, you are paying to see some worthless videos and brochures.

• Online Credit Repair Scams - The email promises that negative information on your credit report with credit bureaus can be erased for an upfront fee. It is illegal and impossible to remove negative information from a credit report where is the information is true. If the information is false you can call the credit bureau directly and have the information remove for free.

• Vacation Prize Promotions. This scam advertises that you can have a great luxurious vacation at a inexpensive price. Beware of hidden costs that are not included such as taxes or air travel costs. Furthermore, the accommodations are of poor quality and far away from a desired location.

• International Telephone Fraud. In this scam you receive an email message stating that a large order of goods has been billed to your credit card and you must call an international number to cancel the order. Once you call the number, you are later billed for the international long-distance call.