I'm going to ask everyone reading this to do something for me today at the bottom of this post. One of the first posts I read in my Google Reader today was from Christine's blog. thirtysomething had a nasty scam experience. Honestly, it makes me feel so useless. Here I sit, a friend of Christine's, a scambaiter, someone who has tried here on my blog to educate people about scams, and just one degree of separation later here is a friend of Christine's *almost* being scammed. I say almost because she did not lose any money that I know of - but worse still she quit a real job to take a fake one. Educating people about scams online is one of the most difficult things I have ever done in my life, because every time I think the word is getting out proof comes back to me as a surprise that it is not. I have the knowledge to stop people from being scammed but it still isn't enough. I can't make the word go far enough. I can't seem to get other people to write about the scams and link back to information I have here on the site about them. Experiences like the one thirtysomething had are why I still bait scammers. This is why I volunteer at victim support websites. This is why Sephy and I have spent the last 5 days furiously working to get a new scam warning website online. I hear about terrible things happening to scam victims every single day. It could have been a lot worse. Just recently I spoke with an elderly lady who lost her entire life savings when a fraudulent check bounced. Scam victims are often arrested for check fraud. That is why I try to get the word out there on the internet so that people are not scammed.

What You Can Do Now -

Let the readers of your blog know about the Scam-O-Matic - a web form which can look at an email and tell you if the email looks like a known scam. Is this email a scam? Ask the Scam-O-Matic

While You're At It -

Let the readers of your blog know about the new blog we have just launched. Scam Warning is a blog which automatically posts scam emails online. Many scam victims are prevented from being scammed because they search for the email address, telephone number, name or other information which appears in emails they receive from the scammers. You can also help by linking to Scam Warning in your sidebar.

Report Your Scammer Emails Online

I heartily encourage anyone receiving scam emails to report them via the Scam-O-Matic. The scam-o-matic can be found here - The scam-o-matic - all scammer email addresses and emails put into the scam-o-matic are added to a blacklist which can save other people from being scammed. All scammer emails are baited by scambaiters. All the emails you submit will end up appearing on the new blog we have just created.

Reporting Scam Emails is the number one way you can hurt scammers.

You can also report scams to the blacklist in other ways, take a look here for options.

Other ways YOU can help!

  • Mention today's blog post on YOUR blog so all the readers of your blog can be educated on this important topic. Feel free to link to this post.
  • Link to these articles I have written about scams -
  • Internet Safety & Scams - What You Need To Know.
  • Snoskred made 5 MILLION DOLLARS online this year!
  • Snoskred on Fake Check Scams and Scambaiting
  • Stumble this blog post and the above articles with Stumbleupon, if you are a member.
  • Email a link to today's blog post and the above articles to your friends and family.
  • Ask me via email to guest post on your blog on the topic of scams to help educate your readers.
  • If you know anyone who has any questions about these scams I am only an email away. However there are some great websites on the internet that try to help as well -
  • Fraudwatchers
  • Scam Victims United
  • Fraud Aid
  • Now you know about this scam - there are so many others out there. Always ask if you're not sure. The Fraudwatchers forum "Is this a Scam" is a good place to post a question you might have.
  • Steal This Post

    If you want a text copy of this blog post that you can simply copy and paste into your blog you can find it by clicking right here. I don't normally encourage "content theft" but this is for a good cause. Please do this. Help stop internet scam today.

    Further Reading And Viewing -

    About the 419 Scam The Fraudwatchers Forums - Scam Related Articles Scam Victims United Gullibility can make you a millionaire - Herald Sun The Big Sting (video) - 60 Minutes Australia - story transcript of the video (this video is truly incredible, well worth watching as the team go arresting scammers in Nigeria - something that rarely happens due to police corruption) Another Big Sting style video - 60 Minutes Australia - story transcript of the video Common Scams on Ebay - a guide United Kingdom - Metropolitan Police Fraud Alert.