Scamming is a daily occurrence that cannot be stopped, however, using some of the following techniques we can avoid most of these merciless scammers! I’m not talking about your email spam, I’m talking about dirty individuals taking your money without sending their product.

Scammers in a digital world may be found in photography forums haggling cameras, or kijiji, or Craigs List, or any of these “user sells product” websites. The easiest way to avoid these guys is:

1. Avoid any sale without images, or images copied off the internet. Ask for a real image of the product sitting next to them.

2. Avoid any sale with a price that is just too good to be true, because it isn’t true! Ok, so maybe they do sell you your product… but what about the warranty if that product doesn’t work? What? There is no warranty?

3. Deal with someone in your local area. If you decide to buy online, always use Paypal. Paypal will refund you, should you be scammed (find more notes on this on the ebay website).

4. If you are in email contact, check to see where they are from. This is easily done here: http://www.ip-adress.com/trace_email/ Follow the instructions on the site and you can quickly find where your person is actually located.

Following these four simple instructions can really save you a lot of grief.