As an Internet user, have you received a letter, fax or e-mail asking you to help a Nigerian {or any other citizen who you previously don't know} with a bank transaction - and offering you a chance to share millions of dollars?

This is a typical Nigerian Scam which has been around for decades, but now it seems to have reached epidemic proportions with use of Internet.

While some people recognize that this scheme, also known as -419 Advanced Fee Scam,- sounds too good to be true, unfortunately thousands of other people, daily, keep being victimized by this fraud.

It is not really their fault because daily these scammers keep coming up with newer twists and variations to scams to defraud even most scam conscious individuals.

Many people engaged in doing business on Internet are increasingly becoming victims of this notorious scam despite all warnings about scams in general.

********************How The Scam Works******************** In Nigerian scam, scam artists entice their victims into believing they have been singled out from masses to share in multi-million dollar windfall profits.

Typically, a company or individual receives an unsolicited letter, fax or email from a Nigerian claiming to be a senior civil servant.

In email, Nigerian informs recipient that he is seeking a reputable foreign company or individual into whose account he can deposit funds ranging from $10 to $60 million, which Nigerian government supposedly overpaid on a procurement contract.

In return, recipient gets to keep a share of millions.

There are dozens of different variations of this email originating from several countries, all involving a plea for help and a promise to share riches.

But NOTE this clearly-

It doesn’t matter what story is...

It doesn't matter what country is mentioned...

It doesn't matter how true it looks....

So far as you don't know person before and he or she is offering you such an 'opportunity of a lifetime' of gaining millions of dollars within a short time for doing absolutely nothing...

Forget it...

... every single one is just a scam!

Laws passed in Nigeria outlaw notorious Nigerian advanced-fee fraud letters. Victims of these scams have also included Nigerians... to show that not all Nigerians are involved in scams.

In short, these scams started in Nigeria and has led to thousands of Nigerians losing their entire fortunes to these scammers. Many have been known to commit suicide for losing all they own.

Yes, even Nigerians themselves are victims!

The scams are perpertuated by just a few bad eggs from among millions of honest Nigerians worldwide.

Such honest Nigerians have suffered in 2 ways from their few bad eggs in their midst.

One- by losing millions to scammers themselves, Two- by being blacklisted by other people worldwide.

It is therefore important not to look at 'Nigerians' as problem, but to look at 'scammers' as problem.

Myth 1 - Link to every site

When I first started my link exchange campaign, I would link to every site possible. As a result, my rankings suffered. As I learned more, I discovered that I could improve my listings by linking to sites that complemented my own. In order run a smart link exchange program, it is important to focus on linking to sites that are closely related to your product or service without being a direct competitor.

For instance, my original site sells Ethnic Jewelry. So, I look for link partners among other jewelry stores that do not sell same type of jewelry that is listed in my store.

Myth 2 - All people will add my site if I add theirs first

To receive a link from an Internet business, most people will usually add site’s link first. Unfortunately, not every potential partner will add your link even if you have already added theirs. Sometimes a website is just not interested in linking with your site. The problem is many webmasters will not let you know that they are not going to link to your site. So, you might be linking to a website that is not returning favor.

A great way to ensure that you are only linking to reciprocal sites is to put each link into a “temporary position” until you receive validation that site is listing your business.

Myth 3 - The name of my website should be in title of link