According to the Office of Fair Trading in the UK, these international fraudsters, often linked to organised crime, manage to swindle UK consumers out of £1-billion a year. The scale of the problem continues to grow, as victims are targeted by telephone, mail and email, often by overseas conmen, and South Africa is not immune.

Classic cons
Classic cons include lottery scams, where victims are told they are winners of a foreign lottery, but have to pay a 'tax' or 'administration fee' before they can claim the money, which turns out to be non-existent.

Prize-draw mailings are also rife. These will also tell you that you are a winner of one of a list of glittering prizes, and ask you to pay a fee or ring a premium-rate number to claim. But instead of the grand prize of the car, or the thousands of rands in cash, you are likely to have won something with little or no value. One such mailshot listed a "limited edition Australian artwork of philatelic value" as its bottom prize — or in less slippery language, an Australian postage stamp. To collect it you had to send a R60 acquisition fee.

Lotteries and prize draw scams are the most common in terms of the numbers of people targeted, but other types of con are equally serious. One causing particular concern at the moment is an advance-fee credit scam, originating in Canada. The conmen have placed adverts in local newspapers, saying that they can get you a large loan, regardless of your credit history. To get the loan you have to send an upfront fee — but there is no loan.

Scamsters are getting more sophisticated
According to experts, it's not that we're getting more greedy and stupid — it's the scamsters who are getting better at relieving us of our hard-earned cash.

Con-men are getting more sophisticated, some of the scams may sound improbable when you read about them in the papers, but these people are professional scam artists. They can be very persuasive and they know how to pick their victims.

Elderly are particular targets
People from all walks of life, from educated professionals to lonely and vulnerable pensioners, have been taken in by conmen. However, the elderly are particular targets.

Research for Canadian anti-fraud organisation Phonebusters, found that fraudulent telemarketers prey on pensioners on the assumption that they will be more trusting and polite towards strangers. According to phonebusters offenders have told police that their ideal target is an elderly person, home alone, with little or no contact with family members. Something which seems to good be true, very often is, but consumers still need their wits about them when it comes to spotting the fraudsters.

Lottery scams
Telephone lottery scams, which often use the name of a genuine foreign lottery, use unsolicited mailings and phone calls to tell people they are being entered into a draw. They are then contacted to tell them they've won, but have to send a fee to cover taxes and administration before they can claim. The victims send off their cash only to find the whole thing was a lie.

Prize draw, or sweepstake scams also ask for fees before people can claim their prize. Some instead suggest that you have to buy a product in order to claim. The result is usually the same — a prize worth less than the amount victims have paid to claim it.

Investment scams
Investment-related scams involve an unsolicited phone call offering investments in shares, fine wine, gemstones or other soon-to-be rare commodities. The investments are often high-risk and may be worth a lot less than the victims pay. Some 'investments', such as gemstones, are often said to be stored in Swiss bank vaults, so you can never see them.

Nigerian advance fee frauds contact victims by letter, fax or email, offering to share an enormous sum of money in return for using their bank account to transfer money out of Nigeria. Once your bank details are handed over, the conmen will often empty your account.

Pyramid schemes
Pyramid schemes offer investment returns based upon the number of new recruits to a scheme. There will never be enough people to support such a scheme indefinitely, so only the people who set it up will definitely make money. Matrix schemes are an internet variation on pyramid schemes. They offer expensive hi-tech gadgets such as iPods as free gifts, to those who spend R200 or similar on a low-value product.

The buyer is put on a waiting list to get their gadget, but will only receive it after a set number of new members have subsequently signed up. As a result, many people on the list will never receive their free gift, and spend their time trying to recruit other victims in order to bump themselves up the list.

Credit scams
Credit scams target those often struggling with their debts. The conmen place newspaper adverts offering loans to those with poor credit histories. People who apply have to send a fee to cover insurance, but after they have paid they never hear from the company again.

Work-at-home and business opportunity scams offer paid work from home but either require you to pay money up-front for materials; or ask you to invest in the business when it has little or no chance of success.

'Just don't do it!"
If you are ever approached with an opportunity to make a lot of money for minimal effort, beware! Always seek a second opinion and if you feel compelled to take a gamble (and that is exactly what you will be doing) do it with money that you can afford to lose.

Most of us cannot afford to lose any cash, so if you're undecided that should give you your answer. When it comes to dubious ways for making a quick buck the opposite of the well known Nike slogan holds true" "Just don't do it!"