Unfortunately Internet scams are common. It can be difficult to determine which schemes and opportunities are legitimate. You will need to adopt the same attitude you would to making a purchase from an unknown source, just like you would from a street trader, for example. Here are some links to help you learn what to avoid, information on protecting your computer against viruses and some sites for reporting any Internet scams you find.

INFO TO HELP YOU AVOID SCAMS

What is spam? Here are some links which help explain.

Work-at-home schemes [to avoid] from the United States Postal Inspection Service
Work-at-home schemes (warnings, scams etc.) from the Better Business Bureau

PYRAMID SCHEMES
See our definition of Pyramid Scheme in our Glossary
What you need to know about Pyramid schemes from the The Light Keeper

REPORT SCAMS / SPAM
Fight Spam on the Internet
The Coalition Against Unsolicited Commercial Email
The Mail-Abuse Prevention System
The European Coalition Against Unsolicited Commercial Email
SpamCon Foundation
FTC (Federal Trade Commission)
(National Fraud Information Center)
Better Business Bureau
Securities and Exchange Commission
Scambusters

GENERAL ADVICE
· Avoid anything that sounds too good to be true (e.g. "we will guarantee that you make loads of money using our secret success formula")
· It is common for a scam site to include the phrase "this is not a scam".
· Don't believe the testimonials from other customers which could be made up by the trader. Test if they are genuine by seeing if you can contact the customer about his statement.
· Make sure the web site that you are buying from provides genuine contact information i.e. not just an anonymous postal or e-mail address.

VIRUSES
· Symantec run a great site to where you can keep track of virus threats (and ascertain which viruses are hoaxes) securityresponse.symantec.com
· The guys at Grisoft will give you free virus protection.