Hi and welcome to my web site on some of the best scams you will find on the Internet.

This web site will cover ebay scams, paypal scams, Nigerian letter scams, cyber nations and lots of others.

UPDATE- Please buy my book!  Click here to buy my book 'Cyberscams'. (You can click on the 'book' button at any time, this appears in the menu on the left).
It is now available here ->

Scams are nothing new, they have been perpetrated throughout time and now with the world getting smaller criminals are reaching out to potential victims worldwide at the speed of light.

Why do scammers do it?
To get rich; or in some poor countries (Nigeria) in order to make a living.  The 'Nigerian letter scam' is the countries 3rd largest export.

Anyone with a brain could see it's a scam, only dumb people get caught!
I personally have a Diploma in Software Engineering and a I.T Degree from QUT (Queensland University of Technology) so I'm no dummy; yet I was caught out by an ebay scam (I explain more in the 'ebay' section) AND a phishing email that managed to get my betting account details (and this was done while I was writing my Cyberscams book!).

Why are the scammers contacting me?  Am I that special?
You're special to your family and friends but not to a scammer.
Scammers use any means necessary to contact as many people as possible; on the Internet this includes having programs that get your email address and then send you the bait email.  They contact over a million people a day in the hope that 1 or 2 will be sucked in.
If you really were special to them the email wouldn't start 'Dear friend ...', it would start with your name.

What is the best way to protect myself against scams?  Knowledge.
Don't hide under your bed and pull your Internet connection out of the wall, there is too much fun to be had on the Internet!
Learning about these scams is the best defence; scams don't work unless you give them your personal details, if you don't give that information out then they can't sting you. 

On the 30th January 2008 ebay posted this on their website -

"No negative or neutral feedback for buyers - coming in May
Sellers will not be able to leave negative or neutral feedback for buyers. Of course sellers will have the option to not leave any feedback if they feel the buyer has not warranted positive feedback."

Will a competitor please stand up?  and quickly!!  Has ebay lost it's mind?!?  Life is hard enough on ebay with all the scams that are going on - and now the seller cannot retaliate at all!
So if the buyer takes your item out of the box, returns the empty box and then claims a refund from ebay (this has happened to me) the Seller can do NOTHING!  Not even warn other sellers about this fraudster!

The irony of this situation is that sellers pay the fees (and therefore ebay's wages), not the buyers.

STOP PRESS :  Ebay user "class-it" wrote this in the 'payment methods' section on a real ebay auction.  Ebay threatened legal action over this.
This was written on the 10th of February and I saw the original on 11th of February, but how long ebay will allow this to stay up should only be measured in hours.

"DIFFERENT WAYS YOU CAN STEAL THIS LAPTOP OFF ME:

PAYPAL: Paypal is currently ebays preferred method of stealing high value electrical items off sellers. There are a number of various ways you can use to steal this laptop using paypal.
1: A Fake “Item Not Received” (I.N.R) Claim – All you simply have to do here is purchase my item using an unverified paypal account. Then when you receive the laptop, simply claim that you didn’t receive it at your registered (credit card) and paypal will give you all your money back !
2: A Fake “Item Significantly Not As Described” (S.N.A.D) This is a great way to steal items off sellers. Simply start a dispute after you get the laptop making up some lie about the item being damaged etc – You could use Photoshop to make up fake pictures of damage. Paypal will ask you to send the item back to me, but don’t bother – they never enforce that on buyers and after a short wait you will get all your money back and you will still have the laptop.
3: A fake “Unauthorised Use” Claim – This is a super way of stealing items on ebay and is widely used. Simply claim that someone hijacked your account (paypal & ebay) and that you didn’t order the laptop. Then in conjunction with a fake I.N.R claim you can simply steal the laptop and of course, get your money back.
4: A Stolen Credit card – Of course, ebay make no real attempt to vet any of its buyers, so hey, just register a new ebay account using fake ID information and link it to a paypal account set up with a stolen credit card – and hey presto – A free laptop.

WESTERN UNION
Although officially banned on ebay, fake western union payments are the preferred way for Nigerian Scammers to steal high value electrical items. Simply email me (using pigeon English) telling me that you would like to buy this item using Western Union – Tell me that you would be happy to pay over the odds for the laptop and that it is a present for your mother in law. Then send me a fake western union payment notification and I send you the laptop – Perfect. This method of stealing items off sellers is very widely used on ebay and of course, as ebay do not properly verify buyers its easy to do. Make sure you use Pigeon English as I am really really stupid and it’s bound to fool me.

MUGGING
If you are a traditionalist like me you may prefer a good old mugging. Simply offer to meet me on some dodgy housing estate somewhere and have a load of you mates hiding behind a hedge with a few iron bars. Again, offer to pay me over the odds as there is nothing better than using a sellers greed to bait them into a scam. I would be grateful if you could avoid killing me as this will cause bad publicity for ebay which would be terrible.

GENUINE BUYERS
In the unlikely event that you are actually a genuine buyer then you really should be shopping in a real shop and not this scammers paradise. However this laptop does really exist and is really for sale. You can email me or skype me with suggestions on how we may actually transact this item to both our satisfaction – with both our safety in mind. Don’t even think of buying it using paypal. I’ve only listed it as accepted because ebay run a protection racket that means I have to accept it. If you do pay by paypal I will simply refund your payment and give you a nice new shiny NEG.

FEEDBACK BLACKMAIL
Of course you will no doubt be aware that from May onwards you will be able to blackmail sellers into giving you free P&P / discounts etc. You will be able to give them neg feedback and they will not be able to give you any.. I regret to advise you that because this rule does not come in until May this option of scamming me is not open to you yet.

AUCTION WRECKING
I would grateful if some sad failed traffic warden could report this auction for two reasons
1: Ebay will see this listing and will hopefully close my account, saving me a 180 days wait to do it myself.
2: You will save me listing fees, making this a free advert."

Links to the best known scams

Phishing (This is how 90% of scams start)

Scams on ebay

The Nigerian letter Scam (also known as 419 scam in the US)

Cyber Nations

Ponzi Schemes