US SEC has a complete article on how to avoid getting scammed on the internet, esp. via emails, forums, and investment letters, etc. In short, the protection is to practice "due diligence" and check out reliable sources for verification. What is "due diligence"? It is basically to perform detailed research and investigation, before proceeding with any business investments, acquisition, partnerships, etc. One of the best way is to check the background of the company and do keyword search on the internet. However, we do not recommend calling up the "other party" especially when it involves unsolicited emails from the internet - unless you are a scam baiter or police.

Do check out this website if you would like more information and advise. There is also a page on telltale signs of online investment fraud.

Apparently there are plenty of mails going around on lottery scams. It is so bad that lottery.co.uk has a page dedicated to inform the public of such scams. You can find that here.

We also found a news on bbc.co.uk that publishes some hilarious info about scam baiters fighting back against the scammers.

Click on to see a latest email of such scam. Notice the link to a email address xxxx@consultant.com, and some pictures taken from legitimate sites. They are trying very hard to be convincing.

Scam:

	UK ONLINE NOTIFICATION DESK.  GOVERNMENT ACCREDITED LICENSED UNDER DATA PROTECTION  UK ONLINE INTERNATIONAL LOTTERY HEADQUARTER  (Registration No. UK20633X).www.lottery.co.uk.

By Tony Pescatore

This may sound shocking if I said to you how and why most of all online income opportunities are scams. They all seem to suck more money out of you, leading you to believe you are on the right path then one day it dawns to you that this isn't working. They are keeping you away of what really works.

You rarely make any money with those programs. What you have to do to earn money is shown to you incorrectly I point this fact you MUST INVEST IN YOURSELF.

By Debbie Jacobsen

With so many online accounts to manage, most people tend to use the same password for everything. Many also tend to use a very "easy to guess" password. These are two common "password mistakes" that cyber-thieves are looking for.

One of the most important things you can do to stay safe online is to ensure your passwords remain private.

Passwords are designed to offer protection, used as the "key" to a door that provides access to some very sensitive personal information. If this information got into the wrong hands, financial loss or identity theft could easily occur.

Password theft and identity theft is more common today than ever - due to spyware, Trojans and phishing scams. Once a password has been compromised, an insurmountable amount of personal damage can occur in a matter of minutes. The more accounts your password works with, the greater the damage. For the best security, online account passwords should be different as well as difficult.

There was a report by Kevin Anderson at bbc.co.uk last June regarding scammers. Not surprisingly, the former-scammers themselves reaffirmed that these scams works, i.e. there are victims that would bite the bait. The advise had been sound, that is to ignore these scamming emails totally. Anything that is too good to be true has a high chance of being scam, in particular, those that uses the names of well-known companies and even the government. There is no free lunch.

The fact that many of these scams originally started from Nigerians caused many to associate them to the country/people. As Nonso had said, there are good and bad apples in every country. However, the community tends to relate a particular issue to those that made it "famous". That is a price to pay, and will always be registered in the history of internet.

Interestingly, we have also found a website that provides advise regarding these advance fee scam or 419 scam, and how to play along with the scammers. It is a fair warning that if you intend to test the scammers, these are real crooks which we will be talking to and they will be asking for faxes and chats on the phone. You may find out more at http://www.419eater.com

Although there are many scams going around, not many people will bite the bait everytime. The point is this, the scammers don't need to have a good respond, but what they need is just one or few out of the million to fall into the trap. Let's say 10,000 victims were selected, after which say, only 100 responded. During the transaction, probably another 95 decided that "whatever" they are going to do is risky or smell the rat, and dropped it off. The scammers still have 5 victims, who are willing to pay, say an advanced fee of $10,000 each. That would be $50,000, or one year's pay for a middle-income earner. Well, if that sum of money is not good enough for you, it is good enough for a scammer. 

Then again, we ask who are these 5 victims, or the 100 potential victims who would respond to the scammers?

This is a scam, and we have received several reports of it. Delete this mail asap.