The following are some common advise to protect yourself against scams, frauds and cheats. As there are many types of scams, the guidelines below are not exhaustive and should only serve as a reference. We will update them as needed.
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Anti-Scam Guidelines

• All foreign lottery mails are fake.
• All foreign money transfer for "inheritance" (someone died) are fake.
• Do not pay or transfer any money/fees to a stranger who sent you an email.
  
• Never give out personal information over the telephone or email, to a stranger who approach or email you.
  
• Do not believe in deals that is too good to be true, including investment, ridiculous pricing with "no strings" attached, one-price-get-all, etc. Find out the details of the deal, get second opinion from someone reliable, check out the web for similar scams. There is no free lunch!
  
• Check the small print of any document before you sign.
• Check the background of the company before you engage in any business. Is it a reputable, registered business?
• Do NOT rush to sign any contract or agreement when the other party uses tactics like "last chance", "once in a lifetime deal", "last one left", "offer ending today", etc. 
• If someone sends you a check and ask you to take out a portion in cash to give back or to someone else, becareful, as it might be a fake check scam.
  

If still in doubt, what should you do?

JUST WALK AWAY and/or DELETE THAT MAIL.

If someone is going to get rich in any of the above, let them be and make sure that they are not accomplice of the scammer trying to fake "success" story. So far no one became rich because of them, and you will not be the first one.

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Anti-Phishing Guidelines

• Always type the URL directly on the browser software.
• Never click the link from the email to a website to update your login, personal or financial information.
  
• Protect your Free Email account even if its free but used to communicate with
  friends, business and login into sensitive account. Apply similiar anti-phishing rules and do not lose the password.
  
• Always install and update your anti-virus software to prevent hijacking of your browser software.
• Never let anyone know your computer password. You will never know how the keylogger software can get into your system. Poor password management, accidents or eavesdropping by the social engineers will get your PC setup for key logging.
  
• Never open any attachment from strangers, including extensions such as PDF, PNG, JPG, DOC,XLS, etc.
  

Some sites will tell you how to check the URL, check the grammar, or not to believe in the email address used in the email, etc.

But if you have the time to do the above, wouldn't it be more convenient and less strenuous to simply Type in the URL of the site you wish to go?

Which is easier (1 or 2)?
(1) Open your eyes and check closely if this is a phishing URL:
http://58.185.59.188/.signin.ebay.com/SingInUssingISSAPIfromeBayVerifyaccountfromISPnotSSLactive
MethodePostnatunerHuas.html

(2) Type in the URL:
ebay.com              (Tada...)

You don't need rocket science to counter phishing. All you need is to type in correctly.
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Some tips about 419 scams:

1) The sender's email address can be fake. The scammer can send the mails out using any email address via an anonymous mail server.

2) The names used in the email are fake - most of the time. There is no need to inform the police about the names, because they need more than that to find the real person behind all these.

3) The whole story is fake, including the money, dead people (if any), etc.

4) If you still insist on going ahead to try it out, please bewarned "Never Pay Money to Get Money (prize)". We assure you that at some point in the communication process, they will ask you for money. In some cases, they will also ask you for personal identity information, which can be used to scam the bank to provide them with you bank account details.

5) If you received a check from a stranger for any funny reasons, it might be a fake check. When you bank in a fake check, the bank will clear the check and deposit the cash into your account within 3 days. After that, the scammer will ask you to send the money to them. When the bank finds out that the check is fake after about 10 days, they will ask you to return the money.

Best Defense:

1) Do not respond to such emails (delete them!)

2) If you sent any sensitive personal information (e.g. Bank Acct. No., National ID Card no., Birthday, etc) to the scammers, contact the bank immediately so that they are aware of the fraud. If this is a credit card, contact your bank to terminate the card and issue a new one.

3) Inform your friends and family members, esp. the elderly, about such scams. It is too late to tell them if they have already been scammed. Prevention is better because there is no cure!

(Last Updated 11 May 09. This article is updated periodically)