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Online scams are increasingly common as more people look for new opportunities. In this this article I’ll list some common red flags that you should be wary of.

A Scam in General

An online scam typically involves a claim that you can make incredible amounts of money with little effort. Below is a sample scam website.

Visible Traits

Up front, the overall design of the website is just a landing page. A landing page is like an online brochure and has the following traits:  Big bold fonts, centered content, and usually a Web form or a different medium of contact. Remember, almost all landing pages are bogus. A legitimate business or person will always have a professional website or at least afford to pay a professional designer to make one. Another trait that raises speculation is the excessive use of images with money or other desired things. Be also wary of small animations (like the small man wielding a stack of cash or the dollar sign waving merrily). They’re not considered professional and you most certainly don’t want them prancing atop your credit card information.

Too good to be true!

Next we actually read the content. If it’s a scam you’ll see a lot of bold claims and “become rich” slogans. If you will be asked to pay a certain amount of money to enroll in a certain opportunity, it’s probably a scam.

Credibility

Lastly, look for any proof of authentication. Most legit websites might have certification badges on their pages which declare them 100% true. Don’t be fooled though, scam websites can easily include these certifications as well and seem official. Some scammers will even claim to be endorsed by trusted organizations. For example they might add, “as seen on CNN, The NY Times, and Oprah!” – unless Oprah can vouch for them, don’t spend a dime!

Another red flag are bogus testimonials, some with pictures of happy people, perhaps the proud new owner of a  Hummer. There’s no easy way to tell if these people are real or part of a scam. A legit website will have more than one web page and share a lot of legal information.  The most transparent scam website will  just include a generic Privacy Policy link at the bottom to give a sense of assurance.

The Gist

The Internet is a powerful medium which you can use to generate a fortune but not without effort. Bogus opportunities are easy to dodge if you properly investigate them and just use common sense.