How To Avoid the Biggest Scams on the Internet [INFOGRAPHIC]

Many of us happily surf the internet everyday, giving little regard to the safety of our personal details.  But what if they were to fall into the wrong hands?   You’ve all heard the horror stories of credit card fraud, pyramid schemes, phishing and identity theft to name but a few.  We often hold the mindset of “It will never happen to me”, that is, until it actually does!  So what are some of the biggest scams on the internet?

According to the Internet Crime Complaint Center, yearly dollars lost grew by about $500 million from 2004 to 2009, all thanks to the biggest scams on the internet, and the trend isn’t showing signs of slowing.   More recent news has highlighted a password leak on Linked In (6.4 million), where many users have had to change their passwords (including me!).

Background Check compiled research on Internet scams from around the world to help you spot the red flags. Among the stats: Nearly 66% of complaints (predominantly phishing) with a known perpetrator location originated in the U.S. Meanwhile, despite having the world’s largest online population, China only accounts for 3.1% of those scams.

So what can you do about it?  Well please read the info graphic below and get clued up!  You will find some of the biggest scams on the internet and what to look out for so you don’t become a victim.

Thanks to Mashable for posting this infographic, you can review the original article here.