Leader: Don't fall for same old scams

The volume of emails containing a variety of internet scams trying to con credit card details and money out of gullible victims has increased dramatically over the last few months.

It seems that before the hullabaloo over the latest Paypal 'phishing' scam had died down, then another one targeting customers of banks such as Barclays was on the loose. Then there's the trusty old 419 email, promising you a sizeable share of some dead African dictator's fortune.

The Department of Trade and Industry and Financial Services Authority even went as far as issuing a warning about a spate of investment scams, many perpetrated using the internet and email.

This was followed today by a promise from the Nigerian president to take action against criminals carrying out the 419 operations from his country. How much of this will translate into anything tangible is hard to say but it seems unlikely that it will give police any greater powers to go after the "very wealthy and well-connected" ringleaders at the source of the scams.

Now many people probably don't have much sympathy for the victims of these crimes, seeing them as both gullible and greedy after being lured by the promise of a share of some deceased tyrant's lost fortune. But police say this hides a bigger problem in that the stolen money - £150m a year from the UK alone – is used by the gangs to fund more serious criminal operations including drug trafficking and immigration crime.

Whatever the legislation and police resources put into fighting these crimes there is always someone else waiting with a new scam. It may be an old cliché but if it looks too good to be true, it probably is... so just hit delete.