It makes no difference if you are thinking about starting a business, shopping or just looking for a new job online, you can protect yourself from some of the cleverest scams online if you just follow the simple steps below.

(1) You can always find out information on a company or person by doing a quick search online. Go to Goggle or Yahoo and type in the company or person name and then type in the word scam after. Follow all leads. If no leads show up, then that is a good thing. It means there are no complaints on them online.

(2) Check with the state's Attorney General's Office to see if the company or person have received a series of complaints.

(3) Check with the National Fraud Information Center at: www.fraud.org to see if the company or person is listed. They provide a lot of information about telephone, mail, and online scams.

(4) Make sure the company or person you plan to do business with have a phone number and physical address. Call the company or person to see if the phone number actually belongs to them.

(5) Always make sure that you get a guarantee. Ask the company what will happen if you want to return the product or what do you need to do if you want a refund.

(6) Be cautious of companies who ask for your bank account info, or ask permission to deposit money into your bank account.

(7) Try to use your credit card instead of cash if you buy a product or invest in a business opportunity. That way if you do get ripped off, it may be easier to dispute the charges with your credit card company.

(8) Never do business with anyone in the country of Nigeria. If you do, you are fair game. The Nigerian Government is in on most of the scams from that country. This is just too large a business for Nigeria to crack down on. It would be like Nevada trying to close the casinos in Las Vegas. There have been numerous reports of high-level officials of the Nigerian government and the Central Bank of Nigeria personally participating in some scams.

(9) Don't reply to bulk email. You don't won't to do business with someone who likes to spam people. Why? If they are bold enough to spam you, then they are bold enough to ripping you off!

(10) Never buy a product or business opportunity with out getting a receipt or confirmation number. If you don't get one or the other, then it's your word against theirs. With out proof, you will loose every time.

(11) Use common sense! If it sound too good to be true! Guess what? It's a scam!
Don't Become Their Next Victim.