Every week here at Scambusters.org, we get scores of reports of scams that have cost their victims millions of dollars or caused untold misery by robbing people of everything from their personal financial details to their kidneys (the kidneys are a joke).

So, we decided to try something new. We're calling it "Scamlines: What's New?" Scamlines brings you the headline details of the latest cons.

In many cases, they are new variations of long-running scams. Some of them are ingenious. By knowing about these tricks you can help protect yourself and others from falling victims to the scammers.

Subscribers who appreciate Scamlines can stay up-to-date without making our regular Scambusters issues too long. Enjoy!

 

We all know the saying "All that glitters is not gold" but that doesn't stop scammers from pretending it is. This week we have two stories from the headlines about scammers passing off fake coins and gold-colored bars as the real thing.

Sadly, as some of our stories show, plenty of people fall for even the simplest and most obvious tricks. Many of these cons have been around for years and regularly feature in our weekly Scambusters article topics. Others show great cunning, like the scammers who passed themselves off as a monk stranded in Canada!

There's a strong international flavor to this week's clutch of scams. But many of them will ring a bell with people in just about any country, including the US. Even if you haven't come across them previously, be warned: they could soon be on their way to your locale.

In the past few days we've uncovered 10 new scams from around the world, including three variations of job scams where, one way or another, people lose their money, their possessions or their identity -- or all three -- in return for non-existent work.

There are also a couple of cunning new tricks to look out for and one that's currently spreading like wildfire - a cheeky spam email that suggests someone has an incriminating video of you!

Is it possible to scam the dearly departed? Absolutely. Separate incidents in this latest Scamlines round-up show two different ways scammers have stolen the identity of recently deceased people. In both cases they were caught -- but their crimes can be a warning for all of us, if or when we lose a loved one.

An old "favorite" -- the advance fee loan scam -- is also among the latest con tricks we've uncovered for this week's Scamlines, along with important news about PayPal's bid to thwart the scammers.

Welcome to this week's edition of Scamlines, the service that delivers the latest scam headlines from around the world. This week's scams underline the scammers' favorite trick -- pretending to be on the side of good versus evil.

A con that cropped up twice in the past few days seeks victims' help in supposedly catching a criminal when its real aim is to relieve them of their money. We also have two tragic tales from England that demonstrate just how painful scamming can be for its victims.

We've uncovered 8 scams -- some of them new and others variations of well-used tricks -- that could turn up in your home town tomorrow.

From Australia, via Africa, to Alabama , the scammers are at work trying to grab your money -- or your identity. They know no boundaries, and their scams are often identical or similar wherever you are in the world.

In our search through the scam headlines this week, we found scammers trying the same type of trick in Australia and the US. We have 10 new hoaxes to alert you to, including three that earned top slots in the "Pie in the Sky" awards!

Even as the tax season draws to a climax, there's still time for con merchants to squeeze in new scams to try to get their hands on your rebate check or your personal details.

Two newly-surfaced tax-related scams head this week's Scamlines haul of 8 dodges and deceptions that aim to relieve you of your money or your privacy. On our ceaseless quest to expose scams, we also encountered a couple of new tricks and variations of established ones.

 

Here's the current round-up of nine scams in the news... Although these scams are occurring in specific places, each of them can happen anywhere (so you aren't safe just because you don't live in Sioux Falls, SD, or New Zealand, etc.) And, just because a scam is on CraigsList, doesn't mean it can't -- or won't -- happen on other sites.

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