Why do people fall for Internet email scams?

Internet scams - we have all seen them. They offer everything people are looking for. Whether you are searching for a real work at home job or you are interested in lotteries, they are everywhere. The range of scams is downright frightening ranging from "you have won a vacation" to "I'm stuck in (name of country) and I lost my passport send money". There are of course the typical scams the Nigerian 419 scams that tell you that a "relative died and left you money". One must assume that since these scams continue to show up in our emails is that someone is falling for them or they would simply not exist.

What is not always clear to most of us is how people get conned into these scams when most of us can take a quick look at them and know for certain that these are not legitimate offers. In fact, the Federal Trade Commission issued a warning back in 2009 that tells people what to look for. Unfortunately, some of these scam artists are too clever by half and have found other ways to target people.

Most people who are Internet savvy understand that there are as many good guys as bad guys running around the net. Unfortunately, there are things that contribute to people getting sucked into these scams that might not mean they are as gullible as you think.

Some look legitimate - as the FTC and other websites start calling out these scams, there are those who have gone out of their way to make their scams seem more believable. Now this is not true for the "long lost relative", they are still as bad as they ever were. However, con artists are now using "brand" names that we all trust and stealing people's identity using information they are providing. Common ones are Bank of America, Citizen's Bank, PayPal and Amazon.

They want something for nothing - unfortunately everyone thinks that "this one" might be different than the last one....this often tempts people to believe that they might actually be "entitled" to something free so they just go for it. While this may not seem reasonable to you and I, it's the way of the world.

What if it's real (more commonly called desperation) - some people who look at these emails think to themselves "what if this one is different and it is real. Do I want someone to get this and miss out on it? Remember, some of these con artists are really good. While I don't personally get the "419" scams, I have seen some really legitimate looking emails that I knew were scams because I hovered over the link. Remember, while 99.9% of us knows that the chance of getting conned online is high, some are in very desperate straits and need a bailout. Why not "try"?

Lack of knowledge - sadly, one of the reasons that there are people still falling for these scams is they simply do not know any better. For as much as those who are active on the Internet know that these scams are everywhere, some people simply do not know how to identify Internet scams. In that case, each of us who regularly spend time online and share our knowledge via the Internet can help spread the word about these scams.

Credit repair services often scam people into giving out their personal information online. This is one of the worst scams that cons people of all ages. There is no quick way to repair your credit, you must work towards it.

Phishing fraud is also another common scam that is perpetrated through email. These appear to be from legitimate websites such as your bank (or a bank you have previously dealt with), a credit card company or sites you have done business with online.

Work at home scams are also very common and are growing even more common in this economy. People are looking for ways to earn money at home and too often, they get caught into some Internet scam that is simply trying to separate them from what little money they have available.

Sadly, there seems to be nothing that can be done about some people getting conned into these scams. This is largely because people are trusting and they feel that most people are trying to do the right thing.

We know as active Internet users that this is simply not the case. What can we do? We can keep talking about these scams, as writers and consumers we can help spread the word and make sure that we do everything we can to stop these scam artists.