The Bureau of Consular Affairs receives daily calls about international scams involving Internet dat

Many scams are initiated through the Internet; victims range in age from 18 to 81 and come from all socio-economic backgrounds. While such confidence schemes have long existed, the advent of the Internet has greatly increased their prevalence. Individual U.S. citizens have lost considerable money on these scams, ranging from a few hundred dollars to hundreds of thousands of dollars. All types of advance-fee scams have one point in common - the targeted person is led to believe that he or she has a chance to attain something of very great personal value (financial reward, a romantic relationship, etc) in return for a small up-front monetary outlay. As a general rule, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.