If you receive an email in your inbox claims that you are going to receive a huge inheritance from a long-lost friend or family member, therefore you should beware, as you are encountering an Inheritance Scam.

The formula of the email you may receive is like that ” We wish to notify you again that you were listed as a beneficiary to the total sum of £4,600,000.00GBP (Four million Six hundred thousand Great British Pounds) in the intent of the deceased (name now withheld since this is our second letter to you). We contacted you because you bear the surname identity and therefore can present you as the beneficiary to the inheritance since there is no written will.

In your acceptance of this deal, we request that you kindly forward to us your letter of acceptance”.

In this Scam technique, you are simply a focus of mass mailings for many people nationwide. Thousands of people having the same surname receive a notice that a huge inheritance has been located in their names. This email will spell out where the inheritance is located and how you can claim it. The scammer may ask for a fee to process the claim. You should never have to pay a fee as no reputable law firms and executors of wills will never ask you to send them money for a processing fee.

If somebody on the mailing list victims does claim his right to the inheritance, the amount is usually very small and many times less than the fee they paid to claim it.

There are many scams, frauds, and cons that you have to watch out for today. Do your research and talk to people involved with them to make sure and avoid those. In order to protect yourself from Inheritance Scams, you should check with your family members about any recent deaths. You can also check with the local Better Business Bureau, the State Attorney General’s office, or the U.S. Postal Inspection service.

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is the United States federal government agency that collects taxes and enforces the internal revenue laws. Some scammers used certain formulas in their emails trying to deceive their victims and convince them that they are due a tax refund, but they are really designed to obtain their personal information.

The IRS struggled to warn people about a tax refund email scam, which works like this. You receive an email purportedly from the IRS indicating you are due a tax refund, or that someone has tried to you a tax number assigned to you and deposited cash in the account. The IRS has then frozen the money, but you can get it back by clicking on the provided link. You are directed to click a link to visit a fake “IRS” page. On the page, you are asked to provide your Name, Address, social security number, etc., so your account can be accessed. The only thing that you will find after giving your personal data is that your Identity has been theft.

Always remember most of the time that you’ll never be asked for personal information through your email, not even most passwords are sent through emails, from any reputable company or in this case the government.

Do not fall for this scam, if you really are owed a tax refund, always remember that the IRS doesn’t have your email, it only communicates with taxpayers through the mail or by telephone or you can pick up the phone and contact the IRS. You can reach the agency by calling 1-800-829-1040.

Anything you receive in your inbox that purports to be from the IRS is not legitimate.

Beware thieves will always advance their scams so this one will evolve more and then another scam will be invented.

Such scams have been around for decades, almost since the start of the internet revolution. They thrive on the “get rich quick” mentality that most people hold, causing unsuspecting visitors to pay large sums of money to an internet lottery that will never allow you to recoup your losses–as there may not even be any winners.

You receive the “Congratulations! “Winning email”, you may receive a check for $200,000,000 CASH! Tax free! But you have not participated in the contest or bought a ticket. The email would assume that “Participants” were selected randomly from any world wide country and the price is part of a promotion program.

You may try to see whether this email is real or not, but doing so can be dangerous. Never give your personal information in an unsecured webpage, always remember that to win in a contest you firstly had to enter it by many different means, they can’t randomly pick you if you are not even in their database!

Sometimes even the country of the lottery does not match your living country or you are not citizen of it. And the email tells that you have to travel to another country in order to claim your winnings. If you would travel you would probably soon recognize there is no prize waiting for you.

If you are already participated in a Lottery prize, and unsure of the lottery syndicate or think you have been approached by some kind of lottery scam don’t be worried, do some background research. Try and find out if they are affiliated with the lottery that they are claiming to be part of, and try using Internet search engines to research more about that lottery.

Lottery scams are spreading widely, if you are a lottery lover, the best way is to join an authentic lottery syndicate website. Not only do they greatly improve your chances of winning the lottery but they also represent very good value too, as well as the fact that they take away a lot of hassle involved with the lottery.

These kinds of Email Scams are assumed to be originated in Nigeria, Ghana, Togo, and Benin. They are easy to recognize to the experienced, but if you are new online check out the following signs:

- Basically you get an email requesting vital information such as your social security number, address, credit card number and more.

- You may find some sentences and words that are always written in “Bold Capital letters” like: “DEAR SIR/MADAM”, “YOUR HELP IS NEEDED”, “I BEG YOUR ASSISTANCE”, “URGENT”, “FROM MR/MRS…..”

- Request for personal banking information; any deal you find in these emails will be too good to be true. You may sometimes receive email claims that you are lucky and that the sender wants to transfer a large sum of money, usually millions of dollars, to you. All what you are supposed to do is sending your “bank account Information”.

- Request for advance payment in US dollars for transfer fees; many will then ask the victim (Email Receiver) to send good Dollars to cover transfer taxes in advance!

As I said before, email scamming is spreading widely nowadays and you might have a previous experience with any forms of it as there are many different forms of email scams like: Inheritance Scam, Employment Scam, Lottery Scam, IRS Refund, Phishing Scam, and Chain Emails. We will tackle every form widely in coming posts.

If you receive one of their fraudulent email pleas for help contact your local authorities or email provider immediately.