Pennies for thought

Email scams are everywhere but we can generally use the theory of ‘if it sounds to go to be true then it is’ unfortunately this is not always the case. You may notice at some point that a friend will email you with a link to some kind of electronics site. Most people will spot that the email is written strangely and just email the person about it but not everyone will pick up on it.

MSN have become especially susceptible to spam emails and mining mailshots. In short, your passwords are being cracked by scripts that enter your accounts and filter out all your contact email addresses. Then all the contacts are emailed an email similar to this one below -

‘hey,
how are you ?
Just received  my iphone 3gs 32gb from this website.  www.faonyt.com much cheaper than others and genuine . if you would like to get one,you can check it out.
all the best for 2010
Regards’

If you ever come across an email like this then make sure inform the sender as they will need to change their password details on there email account. There are plenty of great deals online but always verify the sources before jumping in and getting your card out.

When it comes to identity protection we can easily dimiss it, but at £35 a year it is a worthy investment. Especially for those of us that use money over the internet, lost phones and are not always aware of where debit/credit cards are.

We don’t always help ourselves out when it comes to identity protection, quite often we have keys attached to wallets with addresses in, card numbers on phones and throw away important paperwork without shredding it. Even the most savvy people can get caught out and not see it coming.

I can assure you I do not work for CCP (Card Protection Plan) but I strongly believe that for £35 a year it is worth it for the following.

- Up to £100,000 worth of fraud insurance cover.
- Cards cancelled
- Cash covered
- Passports protected
- Tickets replaced
- Handbags & wallets covered
- Keys returned

Don’t let scams and fraudsters devastate your accounts when you can cover yourself for less than £3 a month which lets be honest is less than a pint of beer.

Gumtree is a fantastic marketplace for buying second-hand goods locally but is open for a lot of abuse.

The most common and effective scam is actually not a buying scam it is aimed at sellers.

You will receive an email about your item from a person who is somewhere abroad and looking to buy the item for a relative that is also abroad somewhere else on ‘training’ or some other story. They will ask you a postage quote for sending it out to some country and by now you should be thinking ‘why don’t you just send them the money and let them but it?’ but you are pleased someone wants it.

The next step is that they will offer to pay the full amount by Paypal and transfer you £0 but tell you the full funds are held in Paypal waiting on arrival of the item. You send them the item to some remote location and you sit and wait for the money that doesn’t exist. Don’t feel stupid if you are ever caught by internet scams, these people are relentless snakes so just spread the word!

Please avoid any foreign buyers and remember Paypal does not hold funds!