Most email spam operates upon the same principle as the non-Internet variety, the simple truth of “you can’t cheat an honest man”. As long as there are thousands of people per day willing to accept winnings from lotteries they didn’t enter, or bank accounts of relatives they know are not their kin, spam wail continue.

A few months ago I read a report that in Australia, a relatively small, well-educated population, supposedly a “savvy” nation, more than 100,000 validated victims of the “419″ Nigerian scam had been reported to the police .. some of the victims were even lawyers as I recall. Over 55,000 people in the US alone reported being involved with the sam in just one year … and this was just the ones who took the time to report it ti the FTC, true number is undoubtedly much higher.

Solution? Easy, your mother likely taught it to you when you were a toddler. If you forgot, I’ll repeat it … don’t attempt to take anything that isn’t honestly yours … Presto, your wallet will be safe and the spam perpetrators will dry up and blow away with the wind.