How to Avoid Top Five Internet Frauds

It hides in Web sites. It lurks in your email. Fraud is rampant throughout the Internet but you do not have to be a victim. Information is power though. Here are the top 5 ways you can get burned on the Internet and how to avoid them.

Business opportunities or franchises are basically exaggerated claims of potential profits through investments in prepackaged businesses or franchises. Now, we all wish to be as wealthy as Bill Gates but most of us do not have the creative mind and luck to become wealthy. That is where these offers come in.

You do not need to be smart – just follow the path the trailblazers have made and you will find riches as they did. The bad news is these trailblazers have found wealth in your wallet and will thus make you poorer and not richer by making you buy the pitch they are selling.

How do you avoid getting taken with this fraud?   Easy!  IF the offer sounds too good to be true, assume it is and do not invest your cash.  With this fraud, you would have a better chance of making money in the stock market.

Credit cards which you can have by just sending in a processing fee. This one either gets you a very high interest rate credit card or nothing at all for your fee. Either way, you are the loser. If you need a credit card, apply to the legitimate card issuers such as MasterCard or Visa through their toll free numbers or Web sites or even your own bank. If you are refused a card, you can find out why and correct any bad information on your credit report to get the credit card issuers to reconsider. If you have bad credit, a card – if you could get one – would just make matters much worse. Clean up your finances first then try again for a card.

Of course, related to the credit card scam, is the advanced fee loan scams. You pay a fee and the company finds a loan for you.  They sell this fraud to people who can not get loans through legitimate sources as a way to clean up credit card bills. Again, here you are likely to get nothing for your cash.  If you have serious credit problems, ask your bank or a social service agency to recommend a legitimate credit counseling agency which will mediate between you and those you owe to set up a payment plan you can handle. Bankruptcy should be your last consideration but again find an attorney recommended by the American Bar Association or your local bar association to file bankruptcy. Using those guys who advertise on late night TV or the Web can get you in more legal trouble than you may now be in.

Consumer product fraud is another way you can get separated from your hard earned cash.  This works in several ways.  The product is never delivered and the company is gone by the time you question the lack of delivery.  The product is not what you ordered and the company refuses to send you what you ordered. Or, you bid in an online auction and the product is not delivered, delivered damaged or not what you ordered.

Here is where using a credit card is a great idea. On a card, you can dispute a charge and the credit card company will go to bat for you with the company and eat the charge if the credit company sees the charge as fraudulent. Even the crooks do not wish to tangle with credit card companies as when they do the law is not far behind.

And, if you bid in an online auction, know the auction house and who is selling the product.  Many sites such as E-bay rate sellers based on buyer reports.  Bid on products with excellent ratings.  If you have a problem with a seller, contact the Web site as well as your credit card company as both is motivated to get disputes resolved. Informational services with its subdivision adult services are another place you can get separated from your money.

Informational services offer everything from how to buy a car without getting taken to inside stock information.  You can find out how to buy a good car by reading expert publications such as Consumer Report at a lot less cost than what the service will charge you.  As for insider business information, do you really think experts sell such information for $30 or so per month?  What you will get for that price – if anything useable – you can get by reading the Wall Street Journal or other known business publications.

Now, some of the adult services have taken to stealing credit card information to make even more cash.  That brings us to our last category. Without knowing it you can become the victim of identity theft.  It means what it says.  Someone used information about you such as where you live and your credit information to rack up charges you never made in your name.

How do you fight this one?

ONLY give out the information a legitimate merchant needs to allow you to buy something.  A merchant does not need nor should ask for your Social Security number to place a charge on your card or accept a check.  Online merchants do not need your driving license number for a purchase either.  And, if some merchant calls you with an offer or sends you one in email, do not just send your credit card number with your name and address.

Comparison shop for starters. Check with the maker of the product to see if the merchant who solicited you is a legitimate handler of its products. Then read reviews of the product and see if there is nothing better that does the same job.  After all that, then call the merchant who solicited you and give the company your credit card information and mailing address to buy the product. Often here you will find you can buy the product in a physical store which is your better choice unless the online merchant has a stellar reputation such as Amazon.

Fraud lurks at every Web site. Theft hides in every email. You can avoid being a financial Internet victim by knowing what you are doing.