Here is an in depth look at the top scams of 2011 according to the Better Business Bureau.

• Job scams—every year the BBB sees many working from home and secret shopper scams but they cannot only kill your hopes of making money but also steal your personal information.  The websites, online applications, and scam emails look professional but how they get your personal information is to as you to fill out a report to check your credit or else a form to direct deposit your money to provide some bank information.  These forms are just a way for the identity thief to capture your sensitive personal information that can be used like your bank account number, Social Security numbers, etc.
• Lottery and sweepstakes scams–the top scam was the email that stated it was from the founder of Facebook telling you that you had won one million dollars from Facebook.
• Social media scams—the top scam appealed to a person’s curiosity and sounded like it was sent from your friend.  You get a link to a viral video that claims it is going show you something interesting like Osama bin Laden’s grisly death and it looks as if it has been shared with you by your friend.  You are told your flash driver needs to be upgraded before you can see the video.  When the link to do that is clicked, you are actually downloading a file that contains a virus or worm.  This worm will log into your account on the social media site that will send the same to your friend plus it looks for your personal information.
• Home improvement scams—these types of scams are usually at the beginning of the scam complaints received by the BBB.  Often your home is left looking worse than before the so-called home improvement is finished.  What happens is someone knocks at your door claiming that they spotted something that needs to be done on your home, like you have shingles on your roof that are missing, and they offer to give you a deal on fixing it.
• Check cashing scams—to pull off this type of scam, the scammers will often use Western Union and Craigslist, two legitimate companies.  If you have something for sale on Craigslist, the potential buyer will contact you and then sends you more than what you asked.  They will tell you to put the check in your account and wire them the amount over the asking price back to them via Western Union.  The money you wired back is gone immediately but it takes a few days for the check to clear, which it does not.  It bounces so you lose that money, the bounce or overdraft fee, the money you sent the scammer and the fee for Western Union to send it.
• Phishing scams—the top Phishing scam was one that was disguised as an communication from the National Automated Clearing House Association. This is the association that takes care of the transfers of all the electronic transactions made online yearly.  The email will state that one of your transactions was not processed and you need to click the link in the email. If you click on it, you may download malware that will infiltrate your computer or send you to a false site to verify your account information, which it steals.
• Identity theft scams—the top scam in this category has become so big that hotels have warning signs.  What happens is that in the during the night you get a call from the clerk at the front desk  saying that they wrote down the number wrong because it will not go through or else their computer crashed and they need your credit card number again so they can take care of the problem.  What they are hoping is that the guest will be half asleep and unable to think straight to realize the phone call is not the front desk but from a person using an outside phone that knows the numbers connected directly to the rooms.  The sleepy guest gives out their credit card number and in the morning your credit card was used for a large shopping spree.
• Financial scams—many people today are looking for help to avoid foreclosure or help to get debt free making them easy prey for scammers.  There are many legitimate mortgage relief programs and government help websites but scammers make websites that are like these legitimate ones.  Many of these scammer websites will ask for a fee upfront to help you out which would really be free from legitimate websites, leaving you more in debt.
• Sales scams—these types of scams are very old but still popular.  With the invention of the internet, it has given scammers and identity thief’s new ways to scam people.  One top scam is the penny auctions because it appears that you get something tangible like computers, televisions, or cameras below retail price and all you have to do is pay a little fee for each bid.  Not all of these sites are scams but some of them are being investigated because they may be online gambling sites, which is illegal.
• Scam of the year—the malicious email that claims to be from the BBB.  When you click on the link in the email it releases a malicious virus.  This virus can steal passwords, banking information, and other personal information that is needed for cyber theft.

Every year investigations by the Better Business Bureau uncover many scams.  The scams range from schemes that have been around for many years new gimmicks.   Many of the older scams are just recycled with different words or current issues are used to make them some newer. The top scam of the year, according to the Better Business Bureau, was a Phishing email claiming it was from them.  It was about a complaint, which could download malicious software.  This malicious software could mine financial accounts.

Here is an in depth look at the top scams of 2011 according to the Better Business Bureau.

Job scams—every year the BBB sees many working from home and secret shopper scams but they cannot only kill your hopes of making money but also steal your personal information.  The websites, online applications, and scam emails look professional but how they get your personal information is to as you to fill out a report to check your credit or else a form to direct deposit your money to provide some bank information.  These forms are just a way for the identity thief to capture your sensitive personal information that can be used like your bank account number, Social Security numbers, etc.
Lottery and sweepstakes scams–the top scam was the email that stated it was from the founder of Facebook telling you that you had won one million dollars from Facebook.
Social media scams—the top scam appealed to a person’s curiosity and sounded like it was sent from your friend.  You get a link to a viral video that claims it is going show you something interesting like Osama bin Laden’s grisly death and it looks as if it has been shared with you by your friend.  You are told your flash driver needs to be upgraded before you can see the video.  When the link to do that is clicked, you are actually downloading a file that contains a virus or worm.  This worm will log into your account on the social media site that will send the same to your friend plus it looks for your personal information.
Home improvement scams—these types of scams are usually at the beginning of the scam complaints received by the BBB.  Often your home is left looking worse than before the so-called home improvement is finished.  What happens is someone knocks at your door claiming that they spotted something that needs to be done on your home, like you have shingles on your roof that are missing, and they offer to give you a deal on fixing it.
Check cashing scams—to pull off this type of scam, the scammers will often use Western Union and Craigslist, two legitimate companies.  If you have something for sale on Craigslist, the potential buyer will contact you and then sends you more than what you asked.  They will tell you to put the check in your account and wire them the amount over the asking price back to them via Western Union.  The money you wired back is gone immediately but it takes a few days for the check to clear, which it does not.  It bounces so you lose that money, the bounce or overdraft fee, the money you sent the scammer and the fee for Western Union to send it.
Phishing scams—the top Phishing scam was one that was disguised as an communication from the National Automated Clearing House Association. This is the association that takes care of the transfers of all the electronic transactions made online yearly.  The email will state that one of your transactions was not processed and you need to click the link in the email. If you click on it, you may download malware that will infiltrate your computer or send you to a false site to verify your account information, which it steals.
Identity theft scams—the top scam in this category has become so big that hotels have warning signs.  What happens is that in the during the night you get a call from the clerk at the front desk  saying that they wrote down the number wrong because it will not go through or else their computer crashed and they need your credit card number again so they can take care of the problem.  What they are hoping is that the guest will be half asleep and unable to think straight to realize the phone call is not the front desk but from a person using an outside phone that knows the numbers connected directly to the rooms.  The sleepy guest gives out their credit card number and in the morning your credit card was used for a large shopping spree.
Financial scams—many people today are looking for help to avoid foreclosure or help to get debt free making them easy prey for scammers.  There are many legitimate mortgage relief programs and government help websites but scammers make websites that are like these legitimate ones.  Many of these scammer websites will ask for a fee upfront to help you out which would really be free from legitimate websites, leaving you more in debt.
Sales scams—these types of scams are very old but still popular.  With the invention of the internet, it has given scammers and identity thief’s new ways to scam people.  One top scam is the penny auctions because it appears that you get something tangible like computers, televisions, or cameras below retail price and all you have to do is pay a little fee for each bid.  Not all of these sites are scams but some of them are being investigated because they may be online gambling sites, which is illegal.
Scam of the year—the malicious email that claims to be from the BBB.  When you click on the link in the email it releases a malicious virus.  This virus can steal passwords, banking information, and other personal information that is needed for cyber theft.

If you should get a phone call of this type make sure that you do not give out any information even if they sound legitimate for the simple reason is that you did not initiate the call.  Some of these scammers are so smart that they can even have your credit card company’s number show up on the caller ID by spoofing your caller ID.  Only trust calls that you make by using the number on the billing statement or on the back of your credit card.  If you get any numbers in an email or left on your answering machine that you do not know do not call them back and give them any personal information.

Call your credit card company immediately if you mistakenly give out your personal information.  The credit card company may give you a new credit card number or even a new credit card and deactivate the old one to prevent fraudulent charges from being made on your account.
Make sure that you check your credit card statement closely each month when you get it to see if there has been any unusual activity.  If you spot any unusual activity make sure that you call your credit card company and report it immediately.  If you mistakenly give out your social security number make sure that you place a fraud alert on your credit report.  You just need to call one of the credit reporting bureaus and they will let the other two know about the fraud alert.

The best line of defense is if you should get any type of phone calls like this to hang up.  Credit card companies would not be calling and asking you for your credit card number or security code because they already have your credit card number.

Here are some tips to follow to help prevent identity theft from giving your credit card number out.

• A very simple first rule is never give your credit card number to anyone who calls you no matter what story they give you why they need this number even if they tell you that they are not trying to sell you anything and that they are only trying to verify some information.
• If you get an email that asks you to visit a certain website or make a phone call to verify your credit card information do not respond to either one because an honest business will not ask you to do either one.
• Identity thieves like to send out emails pretending to be from some well known store so if you get any offer via email be suspicious.  Often the email will contain a phone number that actually belongs to the identity thief and not the store so if you do you will be giving your credit card information to an identity thief.

• If you are ordering something from a catalog make sure that you have the right phone number and try to make sure that you are not using a cell phone or cordless phone to place the order because it is possible to eavesdrop on those calls although it is not very common.
• If you have more than one credit card choose one with a low credit limit to use as the credit card that you only for phone and internet purchases just in case your number is stolen the limit on the card will not be that high.  Let the bank or credit card company know that the limit is to be raised only with your written permission.

These are just a few tips that will help you have credit card protection and help prevent identity theft.

Here are some things that you should and should not do to make using your Smartphone for your online banking needs.

Do….

• Make sure that you stick to using your bank’s apps for mobile banking.  If there are any well-reviewed and trusted third-party personal finance apps you can use them instead.  These you can download directly from the app store for your Smartphone type.
• Look at your phone as a personal computer and you will be able to minimize your risks of identity theft or being hacked. One thing that you can do is for identity theft protection is to install antivirus software on your Smartphone just like you would do for your laptop or computer.
• Make sure that you keep track of your Smartphone and know where it is. If you keep it in your purse make sure that it cannot fall out or that no one can steal it from your purse.  When you are out and about check often to make sure that you have your Smartphone with you.

Do Not….

• Use public WiFi access to conduct your banking business because you cannot be sure that it is secure.  You should opt for wireless networks that will require you to use a network security key or some other form of security.
• Be the first one to use your bank’s new apps but wait until they have been around thirty to forty days before you download it.  The reason is that sometimes early versions of these apps are not safe or contain malware
• Send text messages on your SmartPhone that might consider sensitive and personal information such as your checking or savings account number, your account passwords, or Social Security number.
• Be fooled by text messages or emails that ask for personal information because these may be Phishing messages that claim to be from your bank and ask for more personal information.

When you look at these ads, they want you to not only have an open e-Bay account but also a PayPal account without any limitations.  Some even put in their advertisements that they are looking for hard working, honest people.  When you answer their ad they will send you the information of what they want you to see, how much you get to keep as a fee which may include the amount that e-Bay charges you for listing the items.

They will then send you the information about the item that you are to advertise for sale, a picture or two of the item, how and where they want it listed on e-Bay and their PayPal address to send the money to.  Once you have it all set up on e-Bay you have to send the link to the person you are selling the item for so they can make sure that it is done correctly.
Once the item is sold, you take your fees which can be as much as twenty five percent or a set price plus the fee e-Bay charges from the amount the prospective buyer has sent you for the item.  In your description of the product you have also listed when they item will be sent out.

Within a few days or weeks after the item is suppose to be shipped out, you get a notice that your PayPal account is put on temporary hold until they get the shipping information such as a tracking number so they can make sure that the item has been shipped.  When you contact the person who is suppose to ship out the item, you do not get a reply even after several attempts to contact them.

By this time you know it is a scam and you are left with refunding the money the customer sent you in good faith for an item that never really existed or the worst you may actually be a victim of identity theft.  Your good name with e-Bay has been tainted, your PayPal account may be closed down for fraudulent activity, and you are out a lot of money.