Sad to say but fraud and con artists are still part of our lives. Instead of earning money with some honest way to try to earn the living con artists choose to enrich themselves by cheating other innocent people.

Online scams cost Americans millions of dollars per year. Almost half of fraud cases investigated by the Internet Fraud Complaint Center involved online auctions, according to the center's annual report. Other major scams include non-delivery of promised merchandise and credit card fraud.

Here's the list of top 10 U.S. online fraud categories:

46.1% Auction

31.3% Non-delivery of ordered merchandise

11.6% Nigerian Scam Letter

1.5 % Credit and Debit card scams

1.3% Confidence Schemes

1.1% Investment Scams

1.0% Business related scams

0.5% Identity Theft

0.4% Check scheme

0.1% Communication scam

5.9% Other

Even though some fraud schemas can be very sophisticated, most of the time it doesn't take much to realize that it's a fraud or a scam. Of course, it is authority's responsibility to take care and fight these matters, people and companies. But consumers should also be aware, well informed, on a watchout and smart enough to avoid scams happening to them. Consumers should not be naive - as famous proverb states "The only free cheese is in the mouse trap".

• To avoid scams, we suggest:

• Avoid Subscriptions

• Watch out for suspicious activity

• Do not give away you credit card number

• Do not send money abroad before receiving goods

Research companies before doing business with them. Use internet search engines to research companies. If it's a scam, most likely you will find an endless array of facts, information, and warnings. Having all these information available gives you no excuse, - so don't complaint after!

Visiting sites like ours will also help you to stay tuned and informed on the latest frauds and cons schemas. Sharing your own awful experience will help others to avoid this kind of things happening to them. Use your bad experience to help other people!

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