Top Ten Scams

Good list from Consumer Affairs of the top ten scams that people reported to them (out of 50,000 reports!)

Top 10 Scams of 2006
As 2006 draws to a close, a review of ConsumerAffairs.com's Scam Alerts archive shows that scammers have had a busy and -- we suspect -- lucrative year.

Targeting the most vulnerable citizens and using increasingly sophisticated tools, most have been able to easily elude law enforcement as they pick their victims' pockets, sometimes even making off with their life savings.

Scammers scored at will, generating instant cash using lottery and fake check scams. They capitalized on news events and pop culture to catch consumers off guard, and enlisted all kinds of emerging technology to perfect identity theft.

Here then, chosen from the roughly 50,000 consumer complaints we've processed in the past year, are the ConsumerAffairs.com Top Ten Scams of 2006.

The top three:

1. Fake Lottery Scam
2. Phishing-Vishing Scams
3. Phony Job Scam

It's hard when people are not familiar with computers and who don't know how to check to see if links are actually what they seem and who don't know that companies like PayPal, eBay and Microsoft will never send out emails to customers asking them to verify account information.