Every day I empty my spam folder. Sometimes more than once. First I check it because sometimes a message that I actually want winds up in there (like an e-mail from one of the groups I'm in). I found that if I delete something from the same person or group a lot then they start going to the spam folder.

Anyway, while looking at it this morning nearly every e-mail was for a scam or two. There was even one saying that I could borrow from their bank $ 5,000,000.00 at a 3% interest rate. Are they serious? Would anyone fall for that? I mean, the e-mail they want you to reply to is a ymail account and it's different from the one the e-mail was sent through. Is anyone naive enough to actually fall for that?

I tried explaining this to someone once, when he was insisting that I could get a grant from the government through an e-mail he recieved. You know the one...it's very common and they even have advertisements about it. The "Obama asks moms to return to school" one. Yeah, um grants AREN'T advertised. AT ALL! Plus, those never take you to a government website and if it was for a grant that would most likely be where you have to go.

Then there are the ever so popular "You have an inheritance waiting for you." ones. Check out the address they come from. It's NEVER an actual bank or law firm's website. If someone left you money their lawyer wouldn't contact you through hotmail. Seriously. And they wouldn't contact you from another country. Really now.

Also the whole "I need to move vast amounts of money and need your help." I especially like when these say things like, "I'm contacting you because I know you're a Christian business man." lol I'm not one of those three. Not even close. lol I later on found out that these ones are to fund a war and the people it's funding are the bad guys. Warlords who rape and pillage. Yeah, no thanks!

My point is that there are a lot of scams out there. Most of them will take you for everything you own. Here are some tips I've come up with to help you determine if it's a scam...


1. It's too good to be true. Most of the time if it's sounds like something you've always dreamed of but could never get (like a job that pays $500 a day) then it's probably a scam.

2. The website the e-mail sends you too is different from the one they mailed you from. If a professional person or institution (ie. lawyer, bank, etc) is contacting you they will do so through an e-mail set up through their official site. This is official e-mail. They will NOT send you something through gmail, yahoo, ymail, hotmail, etc.

3. Your e-mail isn't in the "TO" line. If your e-mail isn't the only one they sent this too, which is usually proven when there is more than one e-mail under "TO" or someone else's e-mail is there. If it's an official message of some sort you should be the only one receiving it.

4. Check the web address of the site you're sent to. If it's from your bank, for example, it should only be yourbank.com. NOT yourbank.whatever.com. There is a BIG difference there. ALWAYS check that regardless of what link sent you there.

5. If it's something to do with the government always make sure there is ".gov" or ".mil" or something like that. Only the government and military can have domains with those at the end. Something sent by the FBI for example (yes, there is a scam out there posing as the FBI and CIA) would be sent from fbi.gov. There is no other site that the FBI uses (at least not in an official capacity).

These are just basic things. After a while you'll find that they're also common sense stuff.

The most common scams I've seen...

"Make $500 a day!"
"I am so-and-so's lawyer and I am contacting you about your inheritance."
"I am the laywer for Mr. *some weird name* in Nigeria and I am contacting you about moving large amounts of money. For legal reasons we can't do this ourselves and need your help."

There are new ones now that claim to be the FBI contacting you. I received one the other day but didn't read it so I don't know the details. I just know that it didn't come from the FBI.

I get a lot also that say if I try their product then I can lose a ton of weight in 3 months. No product can actually do that. I don't care how much of a superfood they use. Taking a pill made from berries is not going to cause you to lose fat. Just not going to happen.

There are also a new one that says that if you lose a certain amount of weight then you can win a lot of money. I don't know anything about this but it sounds really fishy to me.

I always delete e-mails that say, "I have a business proposal." Think about it, if someone wants to do business with you they're not going to do it in a mass e-mail.

If you get an e-mail from your bank don't go through the link the bank sent you. Instead go to your bank or call them to find out if it's legit. I get e-mails from my bank which aren't really from them. I also get ones from other banks that I don't have accounts with. They're usually trying to get your bank account information so they can steal money from you.

OH, another one I almost forgot about. E-bay. There are tons of scams pretending to be e-bay or paypal or both. They're usually trying to get your account information. It's just like the one with the banks. They're trying to steal your money or make you pay for their stuff. DON'T DO IT!


Just be careful and use common sense. There are tons of variations of what I put on here. I would hate for any of you to get scammed by someone. There are no legitimate get rich quick jobs or businesses. You were not chosen to help an aging person half way around the globe. You did not inherit something from someone you've never met (why would someone you don't know leave YOU with tons of money?).

*hugs to all* Be safe.