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One of the reasons why Mr Stinge was created is because we were fed up with the
abundance of make money online scams. People still buy into the claims that you
can make thousands of pounds a month by doing nothing more than buying an eBook
which reveals the ‘secrets’ of making money with no effort. For those that think riches
are still possible by doing no work, we regret to inform you that this isn’t the case. If it
was, everyone would be rich and money would hold no value!

Although how hard you work will vary depending on how ambitious your goals are and
the method you use to try and make money. But one thing you can be sure of is that there
will be some work involved if you want generate an income online or offline.

If a money making opportunity seems too good to be true – it usually is. Be vigilant,
especially when you are asked to part with your hard earned money. We’ve listed some
of the most common online scams below so that it’ll help stop you falling for one:

As touched on above, beware of websites and companies that offer get rich quick schemes, high-return no-risk investments and the promise of easy profits.

Most websites of this nature ask for you to pay a ‘small’ fee to access ‘secret’ money making opportunities. What you’ll usually get is information that you could have found elsewhere for free (e.g. Mr Stinge!), participation in a scam such as a pyramid scheme, or simply nothing.

Furthermore, if the crooks that operate these websites get hold of your bank details, it’s likely to be sold on and abused. If you think you have been the victim of a scam, contact your bank and the relevant authorities.

Get rich quick websites often use flamboyant sales pitches that prey on your hopes and dreams. They include pictures of people with cheesy grins holding cheques and living the high-life. These pictures can easily be purchased or stolen from other sites and then edited how they please. False testimonials are often devised in order to find a common ground and any sort of ‘money back guarantee’ is worth just about as much as the crooks conscience.

Avoid sites that over hype opportunities. Do your own research into the scheme. A simple web search may find others who have had problems with the site. Be wary of websites that are advertised through unsolicited emails or that you find through a pop-up window.

If you think the opportunity is genuine, try calling / emailing them for more information.

Finally, don’t judge a website simply by its appearance. Scam artists can create websites to look flashy and professional. It’s their job.

A phishing email is one that pretends to be from a well-known company - usually a financial organisation - but it's actually sent by fraudsters in an attempt to obtain your personal information.

It prompts you for various reasons to enter your login details. They may request that the login details be emailed back to them, that you complete an interactive form embedded in the email or you enter the details on a spoof website that they've created.

There are a number of ways to prevent becoming a victim of phishing emails. The first is to never click on any link in an email. If you want to visit a company’s website after receiving an email, open a new window and manually type in the address of the web page that you want to go to.

Another golden rule is to never supply your user ID or password to any

Fraudsters are known to hack social networking accounts, such as Facebook and MySpace, and then contact your friends requesting money. They claim that you are in trouble and need the money urgently. Thankfully, most friends call you to see if you’re okay. Other worried friends unfortunately pay the fraudster.

To help prevent this keep your username and password safe. Beware of ‘phishing’ emails (discussed above) and never stay logged into your account unnecessarily.

Identity theft is also becoming increasingly popular on social networking sites. Beware of how much private information you share and who you allow to view your profile.

Most people are pretty clued up when it comes to ignoring SPAM emails because we get masses of it everyday!

However, it’s good to be reminded of the potential threats that these emails pose as fraudsters find an increasing number of ways to make these emails look legitimate.

If you don’t know who sent the email and you wern't expecting it, do not click or download anything on it. Just simply click delete. Links and attachments are often infected with Trojans that can do all sorts of nasty things such as steal passwords, record keyboard strokes and infect your computer with viruses.

Be sure to adjust the SPAM filter settings on your email to suit your needs so that you don’t have to shift through masses of junk everyday.

Fraudsters sometimes set up online shops which attempt to clone existing reputable websites. Website designs can be easily copied and scammers often use a website address that varies very slightly in comparison to the legitimate sites websites address.

Other forms of fraudulent online shops are those which sell fake goods or those which advertise goods / services but don’t deliver.

There are a number of ways to prevent being scammed by this. First and foremost, if an offer sounds too good to be true it probably is.

We also recommend that you install the latest version of your web browser as these are equipped with the latest filters that can detect most fake websites. These are usually downloadable for free.