The U.S. Federal Trade Commission reports that 1 in 6 Americans were victim of fraud last year, most scams involving advance-fee loans that charge a fee for loans or credit cards that never arrive. It is against the law to charge fees without delivering immediately on a service, but desperate debtors fall victim every day. More and more often these victims are getting scammed on the Internet, but it's not just the desperate who are suffering in the digital age.

While reading this article, someone, somewhere is designing a Pay Pal website on which you might be asked to update your information. The email they'll send out informs users that they must update their account information immediately or their profile will be terminated from the system. One email sent earlier this year is typical: "Due to concerns for the safety and integrity of the Pay Pal community we have issued this warning message. It has come to our attention that your account information needs to be renewed due to inactive members, spoof reports and frauds."

This seems straight forward enough, and the text of the email includes the Pay Pal logo as well as the expected return address: service@paypal.com. You click on the link and find a page that looks exactly like those on the Pay Pal website. A cursory look at the address bar reflects http://www.ppaypall.com/.

If flags are flying, then you're ahead of the SPAM learning curve. Although they've managed to include the correct Pay Pal web address in the email, that's an extra "p" in the address that shows up in the browser. (If you go to the e-mail's HTML code you'll find that the "mailto" is different from the address for the official Pay Pal website. The criminal registered a look-alike name so that victims might not notice the difference.)

This "Spoof" email went out to millions of email addresses regardless of whether the recipients have Pay Pal accounts or not. But it only takes one sucker to make it all worth while for the criminal webmaster.

Other SPAM scams are no less creative-or destructive. Last November an email was sent out warning eBay customers that they must enter their credit and debit card information or face losing their usernames. Many followed the counterfeit link and dutifully complied only to have their accounts drained. Political fears play into the hands of these criminals as well: one bogus email claimed people's bank accounts had been denied insurance because of violations of the Patriot Act, the law the government put in place to protect citizens after 9/11. They were asked to take immediate action by updating their private information on a phony website. Identity thefts resulted. In another incident last mast month an email was being generated with the subject line "FBI Investigation" implying the email originated from the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The email requested the recipient's assistance in setting up a wanted criminal at a Western Union office. Your transaction will be staked out, it promised, and your Good Samaritan values will be appreciated by all citizens when this man is brought to justice. Good patriots beware; this paradoxical setup was just another spoof.

Protecting yourself from SPAM scams is easier than you think. Experienced Internet users find it laughable that someone could get suckered, but like traditional scams involving phone calls, these criminals prey on the unwary. Minorities and the elderly are especially susceptible according to recent statistics, and inexperienced web users are the most prone to being victimized in the digital age.

You can protect yourself by installing SPAM filters on your email software, but the best rule of thumb is to never respond to any email solicitation asking for you to update your account. Online businesses such as eBay and Pay Pal have established policies against asking for your password or credit cards. In general, legitimate businesses never ask for personal information via email.

Spambusters.com hosts an extensive database of SPAM scams with ways to protect your computer from attacts.

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