Spams, scam and copycats-Oh my!

Well it's that time of year-again.  The Holidays are fast approaching and we are all getting into the spirit.  No, not the Christmas spirit the shopping spirit.  And the spams, scams and copycat sites will once again crawl out of the woodwork like the dreaded and unwanted fruitcake.  *Hang around a while and you might just witness the annual 'Fruitcake War' that gets waged between the Ban All Fruitcakes Foundation (BAFF) and the Fruitcake Defense League (FDL)*

The point is these scams and copycats etc become more plentiful this time of year.  The internet has made shopping easy for many.  It has also made easy for the scammers and to find gullible marks to fleece.

There are two main types of scams that explode this time of year:

The earnings scam

Money is a big issue this time of year especially with the economy the way it is.  Everyone is wondering how they will pay for all those gifts to put under the tree.  The scammers know this.  Be wary of 'new' sites promising immediate riches.  No you are not going to make thousands of dollars in time to do your Christmas shopping while you sleep.  That's pure BS, the scammer is feeding into your need to give the kids a nice Christmas.  Yes you will be giving the kids a nice Christmas only it will be the scammers kids and not your own.  In order to find their marks the scammers will wear two hats as they spam everything in sight to find as many marks as they can before they get shut down.

The shopping scam

Yes a lot of people are shopping online looking for internet bargains.  This causes the explosion of 'copycat' scam sites.  Who can resist a Tiffany bracelet for $9.95?  The problem is that it's not Tiffany.  The site has nothing to do with the Tiffany Company.  Yes I know that 'Tiffany' may be in the site name and url, but the truth is it is a scam site set up by crook that will send you a cheap knock off if you are lucky or nothing at all.  Many well known retailers have they sites copycatted this time of year.  One good defense for this is shopping through reputable online 'malls'.  These malls are simply 'portals' to the actual retailer site.  If you are on one of these malls and you click the Tiffany link, the portal will take you to the Tiffany Company shopping site.  If you can?t shop though an online mall, pay attention to the url.  Place your cursor over the link and it should show you exactly what url that link is leading to.  If it is not the actual company url or a shortened link-don't go there.

The biggest thing is to be aware and not blindly jump on things.  Take the time to research them and do your due diligence.  If that make money site is reputable, it's not going anywhere.  If it's an established retailer they are not going out of business in the time it takes you to do a little digging.  If it does, then guess what? It was a scam all along.