Author: Gini Graham Scott, Ph.D

Publisher: Allworth Press

ISBN: 978-1-62153-5-3-4

It is frightening to read about the billions of dollars that people are cheated out of every year to fraudsters and scammers. And the number of kinds of scams are growing day-by-day but all have the same modus operandi, to employ lying and deception to cheat their victims out of their hard earned money.

Gini Graham Scott is the author of more than fifty books on social trends, work and business relationships, and personal and professional development. She also has a regular Huffington Post column. Her latest book, Scammed: Learn from the Biggest and Money Frauds How Not to Be a Victim is a brief survey of the more popular scams that she has drawn from her own personal experiences as well as others.

The tome consists of six chapters each of which deals with a specific kind of scam. As Scott mentions, a comprehensive compendium of all scams would require an encyclopedia since there are so many different scams, however, most are variants of the same approaches that she outlines in her book.

Beginning with the first chapter, readers are introduced into the recognition and understanding of the dynamics of a scam. From here Scott explores the world of the Beau Derma and Revita Eye scam where, through its ads, it seems as if it has the support and endorsement of major well-known celebrities and experts, with its so-called supporting research as it grabs thousands of victims into believing that what they are signing up for has no risk and no obligation- “free trial.”

What happens, however, is that the scammer is able to get the victims credit card information and puts through unauthorized charges, under the cover of a purported legal agreement that the deceived person unknowingly accepts upon the placement of a trial order for a small shipping fee. Within a short time thereafter the victim finds out the true charges, which are the result of his or her inadvertently agreeing to receive and pay for a membership and a monthly automatic shipment of each product that continues until cancelled.

Scott then goes onto examine the fake check con, which involves the “overpaying” for a product or service asking the recipient to refund the difference. By the time the person scammed realizes that the check used for payment was bogus, the scammer has walked away with his or her money. There are several variables of this scam using assorted means to swindle you as outlined in the book.

Other scams include the sending of money scams expressed in a variety of ways and usually via an email. How often have we received an email from someone telling us that were are the beneficiary of someone's estate, or that we won the lottery? Another version is helping someone transfer funds from some foreign country, or an authority such as the IRS requiring you to pay money. How about someone, whom you know, telling you they are stranded somewhere and they need you to transfer a few thousand dollars to them. As Scott points out, these are pernicious scams, usually perpetrated by scammers overseas that have a variety of tricks for relieving you of your money. The final chapter of the book lists and describes some other familiar swindles including bank scams, online sales scams, charity scams, computer-at-risk scams, home repair rip offs, tech support scams, psychic's vision, fake and counterfeit merchandise scams, pets-for-sale scams, collection agency scams, grant and payday loan scams, work-from-home scams, dating and relationship scams, phony adds for cars and other products and services, investment scams, and publishing scams. The last few pages offers the reader some timely and sage advice has to how to avoid the many scams that victimize millions of people each year.

Scott has done an admirable job in presenting an informative overview of the most popular scams in a highly readable manner that should prove to be an invaluable tool in helping you avoid being taken for a ride by some deceitful and devious individual.