Swindlers' List: Dieters, Debtors and You

Also ranking high on the FTC's fraud list were work-at-home schemes, victimizing an estimated 2.4 million individuals.

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Hispanics and African Americans were more likely to experience one or more of the frauds covered by the survey than non-Hispanic whites. However, the difference in victimization wasn't statistically significant after adjusting for factors such as age, education and debt level, according to the FTC report.

Still, the increase in scams targeting Hispanics resulted in the FTC launching a special initiative three years ago to fight fraud aimed at Spanish-speaking consumers. The agency created a Web site with consumer information in Spanish ( http://www.ftc.gov/espanol).

Recently, the FTC won a $3 million judgment against a company airing infomercials nationwide in Spanish claiming it had a cancer treatment and prevention product.

As part of its Hispanic initiative, the FTC led a nationwide project to review 314 Spanish language work-at-home advertisements in print and on the Internet. Two-thirds of the ads made some claim that the officials said indicated fraud. Among other things, the ads promised that people could earn significant amounts of money stuffing envelopes.

It's useful to review these annual lists of top frauds. They are reminders that we are all vulnerable.

And, as always, the list comes with suggestions on how to best protect yourself.

For instance, consumers are told to verify any unsolicited information they are given. I know you hear this all the time. But I can't tell you how many fraud victims I've interviewed who hadn't made a single call to check out anything they were told.

If you regularly surf the Internet, checking out things that have no real impact on your life, at least make a stop at http://www.ftc.gov to read the agency's consumer releases and warnings.

I don't think telling folks "If it's too good to be true, it probably is" works. Desperation or greed often results in people suspending common sense.

What might work is calling the biggest cynic you know. I'm serious about this.

Trust the skeptic's mistrust of everything. Make it a personal rule before responding to an unsolicited e-mail or business opportunity to talk it over with a cynic. That person will probably pepper you with questions you can't answer. Use this to your advantage. Perhaps the person's doubt will motivate you do some research.