List of Scams by Trisha Ellington

After reading our list of scams be sure to take the Common Scams Quiz

Here is a list of almost every common scam known to humanity. Freshen your knowledge on every type of scam including e-mail, telephone, street and door-to-door scams.

Scam name	Main channel used	What they are after	How it is done
419	Email	Money	The con artist contacts the victim claiming that there are millions of dollars in a foreign bank account that they are willing to share if they help to transfer the money to another country
Bait and switch	Street	Money	The scammer advertises a popular product at a very low price, but when the victim comes in to purchase it, the scammer claims it is out of stock and offers a more expensive and often overpriced product instead
Black money scam	Email	Money	The fraudster contacts the victim stating they have a trunk full of money that they offer to share with the victim, but is dyed black to avoid customs, and ask for money for taxes, shipping and chemicals to watch the money
Employment scam	Email	Money	The con man contacts the victim claiming they have a great employment opportunity for the victim, but asks for money up front for work visas, travel expenses or other fees before receiving an outdated job list
Lottery scam	Email	Money	The con artist contacts the victim stating they have won a contest for a large sum of money, but need to pay a fee for taxes or other fee to collect the money which they of course never receive
Moving scam	Street	Money	The scammer offers to move their belongings at a very low rate, and then after their belongings are in transit, they dramatically inflate the price which the victim has to pay since their belongings could be anywhere
Phishing	Email	Personal information	The scam artist contacts the victim impersonating a legit website of a bank or other institution and claims their account is compromised and asks for account and Social Security numbers to verify the account
Pump and dump	Email	Money	The con artist contacts the victim and promises that they will make money very quickly by buying cheap stocks, but the scammer cashes in after several people have purchased them leaving all their victim's with no money at all
Pyramid scheme	Email	Money	The con man contacts the victim and asks them to send money to the person on the top of a list and also asks the victim to recruit more people to join the pyramid in the hopes of getting rich quick
Romance scam	Street	Money	The fraudster uses romance as a way to get money from their victims by pretending to be in love with them, buying gifts, taking them out to dinner and even marrying and having children with them
Shell game	Street	Money	The con man lures their victims in from a busy street to play a shell game, sometimes using a second person to fake wins, lets them win a few games to keep them playing and then finally makes them lose and spend lots of money
Three card Monte	Street	Money	The fraudster lures their victims in to play a three card guessing game that the con man has total control over, often letting them win the first few games, only to eventually makes them lose all of their money
Vishing	Telephone	Personal information	The scammer contacts a victim on a voice over IP telephone line and, using a recording, claims that a credit card account has been compromised and asks the victim to enter their account number on the keypad
Work at home	Email	Money	The scam artist contacts the victim and promises huge salaries for doing easy work-at-home, but asks for a shipping or processing fee upfront and sends them something worthless or nothing at all in return

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About the Author

Trisha Ellington works for Softgame Company, maker of card games, video poker and puzzles. She works on web sites, designs games and does graphic work.