Consumer group Which? has reported that some 5m people across the UK have been duped into responding to scams. The Internet, especially e-mail, is among several areas singled out as "breeding grounds" for such activity.

E-mail (SPAM) messages, such as the infamous 'Nigerian 419' scam (pay cash into an unknown bank account for promise of vast return on investment, which never comes), are good examples. Not to mention fake bank account e-mails, which re-direct you to a fraudulent site.

We're often amazed by how many people end up falling for such fraud, a simple amount of common sense (don't click the links in e-mails etc.) is normally enough to avoid most problems.