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siliconjon · 05-04-2008, 01:19 PM

Wow, that's a lot of people falling for the bank account money transfer schemes.

My quick analysis on avoiding many of these issues without reading the linked tips page:

1) Fake Check Scams - don't use your personal checks for personal purchases, save them for your trusted pre-established billing purposes. Money orders, PayPal, credit (not debit) cards, and Google CheckOut are some better options for shopping purposes. Debit cards tend to not have the same extent of safeguards as credit cards, and it's truly money lost until recovered, so use a credit card but pay it quickly to avoid interest accumulation. I also won't order my checks online. My bank is more expensive, but they're much more secure.
2) General Merchandise, 3) Auctions, 6) Advance Fees 9) Conmen/women - Buy only from reputable sources! Use sites like ResellerRatings.com & GoogleShopping for business reputation lookups, and sites like heatware.com and ebay.com for personal trader reputations. Know who you're dealing with, and know wether our not fees and prices are normal by shopping around. Don't trust people you don't know anything about with anything you can't afford to lose.
4) Money Offers - DON'T! Never give account information to people or alleged businesses contacting you. If it seems such information is required be sure to initiate the contact yourself to an established contact method with the company you are attempting to communicate with.
5) Foreigh Lottery - DON'T! I haven't seen a legit reason for this type of transaction, either. If you need to play there should be plenty available locally.
7) Prizes/Sweepstakes - Keep it local or reputable, and remember that just because you didn't win doesn't mean it was fixed!
8) Phishing - don't click on email links asking you to log in or otherwise provide account information - know where the site is and go there manually. There are also tools to help prevent this, but that's an answer all its own.
10) Internet providers - Finding reputation prior to making such a commitment is best for any purchasing decision. Options can be scare for some geographical areas, though - discuss reputation locally to find out how a business performs for its customers in that area. Size doesn't necessarily mean anything - look up AOL problems for proof.

05-04-2008, 01:19 PM	#2 (permalink)
siliconjon Hulk Smash Spammers! Expert Member Join Date: May 2008 Location: St. Louis Metro Area Posts: 843	Wow, that's a lot of people falling for the bank account money transfer schemes. My quick analysis on avoiding many of these issues without reading the linked tips page: 1) Fake Check Scams - don't use your personal checks for personal purchases, save them for your trusted pre-established billing purposes. Money orders, PayPal, credit (not debit) cards, and Google CheckOut are some better options for shopping purposes. Debit cards tend to not have the same extent of safeguards as credit cards, and it's truly money lost until recovered, so use a credit card but pay it quickly to avoid interest accumulation. I also won't order my checks online. My bank is more expensive, but they're much more secure. 2) General Merchandise, 3) Auctions, 6) Advance Fees 9) Conmen/women - Buy only from reputable sources! Use sites like ResellerRatings.com & GoogleShopping for business reputation lookups, and sites like heatware.com and ebay.com for personal trader reputations. Know who you're dealing with, and know wether our not fees and prices are normal by shopping around. Don't trust people you don't know anything about with anything you can't afford to lose. 4) Money Offers - DON'T! Never give account information to people or alleged businesses contacting you. If it seems such information is required be sure to initiate the contact yourself to an established contact method with the company you are attempting to communicate with. 5) Foreigh Lottery - DON'T! I haven't seen a legit reason for this type of transaction, either. If you need to play there should be plenty available locally. 7) Prizes/Sweepstakes - Keep it local or reputable, and remember that just because you didn't win doesn't mean it was fixed! 8) Phishing - don't click on email links asking you to log in or otherwise provide account information - know where the site is and go there manually. There are also tools to help prevent this, but that's an answer all its own. 10) Internet providers - Finding reputation prior to making such a commitment is best for any purchasing decision. Options can be scare for some geographical areas, though - discuss reputation locally to find out how a business performs for its customers in that area. Size doesn't necessarily mean anything - look up AOL problems for proof.