I fell victim to my first scam at the age of 10...

I lost $25 dollars to an envelop stuffing work from home scam at the age of 10. Every since then I have had a strong distaste for scammers and good nose for less than legitimate propositions.

I am really happy to have recently found Scam Warners, www.419eater.com, www.scambusters.org, and www.ic3.gov.

I am thinking about making a documentary where I follow a craigslist scam from the initial email all the way back to the individual scammer responsible. Right now I am just researching but I will make sure to post on here if I end up making this documentary.

Welcome to Scamwarners aberger.

There are many varieties of scam whether it's someone saying that have the inheritance of an African prince to dispose of or a land banking scam, romance scamming on a major social site or fraudulent adverts on major ad sites. Some common features can be identified between them but essentially the scammer is trying to target different audiences.

The whole business of scamming is so massive that many members specialise in different areas. Currently I'm looking at fraudulent car and vehicle adverts, along with others, that are associated with 'money mule' recruitment websites that other members seek out and get closed down.

It's a massive subject and very varied. i could fill a page with all the types - pet scams, au pair/immigration scams, investment scams, lottery scams. Just listing the different types of scam would take some time as well as the 'work at home scams' you mention. I missed out the scams involved in producing and cashing counterfeit cheques.

Hey Terrance,

It really is shocking the large variety of scams out there. I am reading an IC3 report that states the following info for 2012:

Total complaints received: 289,874
Complaints reporting loss: 114,908
Total Loss: $525,441,110.00

That is just reports made directly to their website!

For my theoretical documentary I am looking at a scam that was attempted on me this week. It is a craigslist "steal my item" scam that I suspect is using a re-shipper in the US as discussed here:

many scammers exploit victims in other countries through "work at home" scams. These victims will receive packages on behalf of scammers, then reship to the scammer's country
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=3567

I have all the personal info on the re-shipper, not sure what to do next besides contact the re-shipper and see what info they have on the scammer they are working for/with.