From the period 2005 to 2009, the number of reported online scams rose from 100,000 to 300,000 a year. Over 9% was about advance fee payments and 14.4% on identity fraud. Sadly most of the scammers are located in the U.S. although this statistic is quickly changing to include scammers from Asia and Africa.

The first rule once you have started receiving or issuing online payments is to trust no one with personal and financial details. Passwords, personal details, financial data should stay on a "need-to-know" basis. In fact, if you happen to find a virus or threat on your computer, change all the passwords. For those who insist on using the same password for everything, just do one thing: use a separate password for online finances if you're having problems remembering passwords.

Secondly, understand that affiliates and payment programs may be a scammers or scams. Some of the tricks used by scammers targeting affiliate marketers are:

Unreasonable guarantees on anything and everything. Making sign-ups too easy with very little verification requirements. Signing up with partner affiliate programs with unusual high commission rate; even higher that the price of the product. The general guideline is that ebooks can legitimately offer as much 75%, consumers products can only go to 15% maximum, and software generally only get up to as high as 30%. Pay-out of commissions should be within a reasonable amount of time and under a minimum amount that isn't too high. The fact is, it is being smart for an affiliate program to set a minimum pay-out amount but if it's too high, then there's something wrong. Also, the commission rate per product should be commensurate to the minimum withdrawable amount. If you're earning 5% on a $20 product and you have to reach $100 before you can cash out, you're never going to see that commission in your bank. The company may be legitimate but they're unscrupulous because they're earning interest on money that should be in your hands.

Thirdly, bouncing checks are a sign that you need to skedaddle away very quickly from the program. Don't even think about giving the check issuer a second chance. Any sincerity on the part of the issuer should have come before the check was issued or in a mad rush to inform you that the check needs to be replaced

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