The increase in Internet scams should come as no surprise.
With more users comes more con artists willing to take advantage of our laziness
and willingness to place trust in anyone who comes along. Living in an age
where information on any topic imaginable is readily available leaves no room for
excuses. If you were to plug-in any of the topics listed above into a search
engine, you will find an endless array of facts, information, and warnings
on each of them. Complaining after we've been duped about how the
government, the police, or Internet service providers should be doing more to
protect us from what should be obvious scams in progress does nothing to correct the problem.
We have a multitude of
gullible, uninformed, and reckless people who are willing to believe almost
anything that others say. Need proof ? Then consider any one of the thousands
of Nigerian Letter Scams now in use. If you choose to believe that by some
mysterious act of Divine intervention that a foreign dignitary suddenly wants to
share their wealth with you, then believe what you want. Just don't expect pity
from others when you get taken for a ride. Had you invested three minutes of your
time to check into the outrageous claims of your foreign benefactor, you would
have discovered any one of the endless documents exposing this activity as a
blatant scam. But , you might protest, FraudTech has said elsewhere on this
site that no one is immune to fraud, so why the sudden attack on the victims?
Yes, it's true that
none of us is immune to one or more of the countless frauds, scams, and schemes
now in use. And yes, there are times when we are suddenly caught off guard and
find ourselves in the midst of a fast paced con game. Then, too, there are
numerous other times, especially with Internet scams, where we have ample time and
resources available to us, any of which provides sensible advice and protection.
And yet we refuse to use them. Why?
THINKING IS NOT AN
OPTION--IT'S A NECESSITY
Rudolph Flesch, author
of The Art Of Clear Thinking, commented on the tendency we have towards
ignoring the obvious. He said that,
"[I]n a sense we all know what to do about our
problems and how to make well reasoned decisions, but we don't. We could improve
our personal finances by budgeting, but we don't budget; we could improve our
careers by studying, but we don't study; we could improve our health by dieting,
but we don't diet. Information is piled high in our lives' archives, but we don't
use it. Thinking is too hard.
Flesch goes on to note
that,
"[w]e tend to treat thinking as being impractical,
unrealistic, long hair stuff, that doesn't work. The practical thing is to go
ahead, without thinking, leaving things the way they have always been, doing what
everybody else has always done. Never mind the rational approach; the irrational
way is familiar and so much nicer and easier.
This is why, despite
all evidence to the contrary, thousands of people insist on believing there is an
easy way to make untold wealth by participating in the Internet work at home
opportunities. It's far easier to believe you can avoid anything that resembles
hard work in favor of easy income. Then. too, if you want to believe that
complete strangers are better equipped to solve all of life's many problems, then
consult an on-line psychic, astrologer, clairvoyant or any other con artist who
claims to hold powers otherwise unavailable to the masses. In so doing, always
keep in mind that you do have choices.
The point, here, is
simple. Whatever your beliefs, weaknesses, or wishes, there is no shortage of
unconscionable con artists who are--for a price--willing to tell you what you want
to hear. Since I refuse to deceive any of my visitors there will be times when
you won’t like what I have to say. And that’s okay. If you disagree, it means
you had to stop and think about what was said and come up with an opinion of your
own. Whenever such occurs, notice how painless it was to use such independent
thinking and be sure to make it a habit whenever you experience an urge to invest
in anything on the worldwide web.
Continue on
to the Internet Ad Scams section.
Continue on
to the Contest Winner
Scam section.
FraudTech
