2. Internet fraud

The Internet offers a fantastic place for businesses to sell their goods and services to customers. But, it also offers endless opportunities for crooks to find new ways of helping themselves to some of the vast sums of cash involved.

Some of the most common types of fraud seen on the Internet are:

Online Auctions

After winning an auction, the buyer pays the amount they bid. Sometimes they may find that the goods are never delivered, or what is delivered, is not what was promised in the auction.

Auction sites use the 'voting' method to try and give an indication of how trustworthy the seller is. The more positive votes the seller has been given by their buyers then the more likely it is that they are good traders.

Goods and services

Very similar to the auction above - goods or services are ordered by the customer from an online store, and they find that the item never arrives.

Always use trustworthy sites for buying goods and services. Use the motto "If it is too good to be true then it probably is!

'Work at home and make a fortune'

Some people are lured by the promise of making large sums of money by working from home.

They are asked to pay a fee upfront in order to receive a kit which will give them instructions on how to make a lot of money quickly. Except, once they pay that fee, the 'instructions' they receive are just a load of piffle.

Advance fee loans

People who might not be able to get a loan because they have a poor credit history might find an advert that promises to loan them money, no matter what their financial circumstances.

Before they can get the loan, they are asked to pay a fee upfront. Needless to say, once they have paid their fee, they never get their loan.