Email Scams and How to Avoid Them

I''ve been inundated recently by emails saying ''You''ve received a greeting card from a school mate'' and ''You''ve received a postcard from a worshipper!'' or similar.

Being of a suspicious mind I didn''t click on any of these. A brief search would show you that these links take you to sites that attempt to drive malware on to your computer or tempt you to click on virus laden downloads. Quite simply ? don''t click on anything you don''t trust!

But it put me in mind of other famous email scams that are becoming more prevalent now that the harvesting of email addresses seems to be reaching epidemic proportions.

One of the other common scams I see in my Junk Email folder each day is the variations on the ''Nigerian Scam''. These prey on the reader''s willingness to help and the innate greed that attracts the unwary. They usually start with ''Please help me'' and go on to request your help in ''freeing'' funds from an overseas organization. Before you know it you will have divulged your bank account information and sent a small ''token'' amount to cover transfer fees or legal fees or similar requests.

What about the ''Prizewinner''s Scam''? Seen that one? Tempting isn''t it? Here''s an email claiming that you''ve won millions in a prize winning draw or lottery and all you have to do is email back, with personal details, to claim it! Well it might seem a bit strange that you haven''t entered the draw or lottery concerned but then, wow, you must have struck lucky. But don''t, please don''t reply. They''ll hook you in just like a fish on a line.

There again Oprah must be disgusted that her name''s been stolen by the ''Oprah Paypal Scam''. This one''s a clever turn on the mail-link-letter system that used to clog up the mail systems except that here you send a small sum to the name on the top of the list in the hope of receiving thousands back. Wave bye-bye to your cash!

But these are just the more obvious ones. Ever been seduced by the ''Data Entry Scam'', the ''$1.67 a Day Scam'' or the ''Western Union Scam'', amongst others? Forewarned is forearmed. I''ll explain all about them and exactly what to watch out for at wealth-providers(dot)com.

Jonathan Paston views and reviews Web Marketing books and courses with a no-holds-barred approach on BS at http://wealth-providers.com. If you can''t learn something new from a book then it is not worth having. If the advice is no value then so is the course.