Some frauds have been around for years. Others are new. This is how they work - and how to avoid being defrauded.

Crooks will stop at nothing when it comes to parting you from your money Some schemes have been around for years, others have emerged more recently. It's estimated that consumers lose over $1 billion dollars a year to cons. Here are some that are still operating , and others to expect in the future.

The Free government Grant

Here's another way they entice you to give out sensitive information that they can use to steal your identity and defraud you. Beware

This one is the offer of free government grants. A man was nearly a victim of this scam. He received a phone call from a man with a heavy accent who claimed to be from the "Government Grant Processing Center " and that he had been selected to receive a free grant of $8000.00.

All he had to do was furnish his checking account number so they could take out a service charge. The man became suspicious when he was asked for more and more personal data, so he hung up. Had he given the information they wanted they could have stolen his identity

This practice is very common and comes in various of guises. Do not give any personal data to anyone unless you have initiated the transaction and know who you're dealing with. Do not respond to any unsolicited offers or requests for personal data.

Identity Theft

An e-mail fraud scheme designed to get people to divulge account information has intensified recently.

The scheme known as phishing, AKA identity theft generally uses e-mail to link us to bogus sites that lure you into disclosing credit card numbers, passwords, user names PIN numbers and other sensitive information.

The e-mails purport to be from well known institutions, banks, online businesses even government agencies. The links are exact copies of legitimate web sites and even use a lot of genuine links.

There are in the neighborhood of 400 active phishing sites and they are on the rise so be Cautious

They use a combination of threats and urgency to entice victims to fall for their schemes. Once the phishers get the data they need they can cash bogus checks, buy expensive merchandise, withdraw money from ATM machines, open new accounts in your name, pay expensive hotel bills or anything else they can think of to spend your money on. So beware.

Phishing, or identity theft is really a two part crime where the first step is e-mail fraud but the main goal is identity theft, says a spokesman for the Justice Department.

Most of these operations are overseas so prosecution is virtually impossible. Reimbursement can be a problem because you are considered responsible if you give out personal data although most banks consider phishing a fraudulent transaction.

Tax Refund Fraud

This is an iteration of Phishing or Identity Theft.

The tax refund phishing scam starts with an e-mail, which appears to originate from taxrefunds@irs.gov. The e-mail tells recipients they may be owed a federal tax

The IRS does not use e-mail to solicite personal information so Beware Do not reply.

Telemarketing scams

This is an example of the unscrupulous .taking advantage of current situations. When gasoline prices went off the charts it was a severe blow to my wife who distributes newspapers.

At the height of this fiasco I received an offer of $200.00 in gasoline vouchers as an inducement to try out a telephone service and a couple of other products. It also involved coupons for discounts in restaurants and other services. It sounded plausible, I had used these programs in the past and the companies mentioned were known entities.

There was a charge of $1.95 for the package which didn't appear unreasonable so I acquiesced to an electronic transfer from my checking account. These trial offers were subject to your cancellation when you received the material in the mail and had an opportunity to inspect it.

The upshot was that they delayed mailing the material until the time limit had expired and substantial charges had been made to my account.

Being furious I began an offensive. I called the phone company, the Attorney General, the Better Business Bureau the FCC, the FTC and any other agency I could think of, as well as the principal companies.

Most of them claimed lack of jurisdiction. I also called my credit card company, who were unable to help because technically I had sanctioned the transaction. The next step would have been small claims court, but my aggressive action paid off and the companies eventually issued full refunds.

This all took time and involved needless aggravation. My first mistake was giving out my checking account information. NEVER, EVER, do this.

In the first place don't fall for deals like this. If they sound too good to be true, they usually are. Again if you are going to buy, use a protected credit card, don't use checks or even debit cards, you are too vulnerable.

Not only was that a problem but apparently I got on a sucker list and I am plagued with calls from people who want my account number under one pretext or another. BEWARE

Work at home schemes

Not only are we deluged with “Get rich quick " schemes in the form of work at home offers by email and telephone, we are now getting a dose of them on TV and the radio. Be careful of these work at home offers. Be alert, use caution before you get involved in any of these schemes.

As stated in our introduction: "If it seems too good to be true it probably is." Some of these offers may be legitimate, but remember: "You get nothing for nothing." If you want to generate income, you are going to earn it.

We're used to seeing the scam artists on the internet. Now they've invaded TV and radio promising earnings of $5000.00 to $50,000.00 per month by staying at home and doing practically nothing.

These commercials are obviously misleading if not downright dishonest, to say the least. some are outright fraud, Common sense tells you that a business earning the kind of money that they offer would be worth a fortune. Do not fall into their traps!

Most work at home scams are legal. That doesn't mean that they are honest. They are cleverly planned to entice you to spend more money than you intended to spend, or they garner personal information that they use for other lucrative nefarious purposes.

Classified Advertising Scams

Basically these frauds operate in similar fashion. They are triggered generally by a classified ad for a major item such as a car or some other relatively expensive item.

You are contacted by someone from another country offering to pay your price or more. Because of exchange rates or some other nonsense. they want to issue a certified cheek far in excess of your price.

You are to deduct your price plus the export charges and send the excess money in a money order to the buyer.

You would think this would arouse suspicion, but many people become victims. The problem is that the cashier's check you receive is counterfeit but of such high quality that the bank tellers are unable to detect them. They are caught when they are processed.

In these cases you, not the bank are responsible and you are out the money.

Pyramid Schemes

One pyramid selling scheme is known as the VIP club. It was claiming to provide significant discounts on travel and leisure services through the club in exchange for a substantial membership fee.

The club was then offering members large commissions for introducing other people (usually family or friends) to become members, often this indicates a pyramid scheme.

Pyramid scheme operators do not always use high-pressure sales measures but, however they lure you in, they always promise money in return for the number of people you are able to recruit to pay and join the scheme.

Pyramid Schemes are illegal if their sole purpose is to make money for the recruitment of other people.

Don't sign up to them and report them to your local authorities.

Lotteries and Prize Contests

The highest number of complaints in relation to scams are about lotteries and prize draws. Most appear to be notification of a prize in an overseas lottery in return for administration or registration fees.

How can you win a lottery you never entered?

Never send any money to receive a prize, and do not give out private financial information.

Nigerian Scam

There are a number of these scams, named after the Nigerian criminal statute against fraud, which essentially offer to pay you thousands of dollars for allowing a large amount of money to be paid into your account.

The scam? Before this can happen you are asked to pay a fee in advance. Once the fee has been paid, the correspondent offering this fantastic deal disappears along with your money.

These are old tricks thatyou would think no one would fall for, but they are becoming more sophisticated all the time. They come in many different disguises. The Nigerian crime squad, issued a fresh warning about them in November. 'These people are very convincing, they have an answer to every question.

Some of the scams purport to be from a juvenile orphaned by the tsunami disaster asking for help in moving their parents millions out of an overseas bank, and a journalist who has unearthed Saddam Hussein's missing millions and needs to deposit them in your account in return for a share.

If you are approached do not reply and do not give out your personal details. Also send the email to the internet service provider from which the scam email originated. These emails should be addressed to: abuse@the ISP name (example: abuse@yahoo.com).

Pet Scams

A variation of theNigerian Scam is being used to rip-off pet owners and breeders. Use caution dealing with people on the inernet whether you're buying or selling.

Do not use Western Union or money orders and if you resort to eascrow accounts be sure you use a reliable one. They are another vehicle susceptible to fraudsters.

An internet associate publishes a warning site identifying some of these villians and has been threatened for doing so. They don't like publicity and do all they can to thwart crusaders. So Beware. Use caution and common sense in these "Too good to be true " offers.