Scams and Cons

"Congratulations, you have won, just send a processing fee to..."

"You must respond at once to claim your prize..."

"Simply provide details of your credit card or bank account..."

"An opportunity to invest in a syndicate to win a high-stake lottery...."

"I made thousands of pounds in the first few months and you can too..."

" I have millions of pounds from a foreign nation, help me and it could be yours..."

If it sounds too good to be true...it probably is!

These are just some examples of approaches used by the operators of scams. Scams succeed for two main reasons:

• They look genuine, creating the impression that they can fulfill people's needs or desires.
• Scams are manipulative and designed to produce automatic responses (e.g. sending an unsolicited "gift" to create a sense of obligation, or sending a hard luck story to prey on people's sympathy).

It doesn't matter who you are, all of us can be taken in by scams, their offers are just too tempting, but remember...

If it sounds too good to be true...it probably is!

Information on a variety of scams is available from the Consumer Direct Website  (external link)